Brazil Wins Two Silver and a Bronze Medal on the Last Day of Warsaw Open
Leandro Guilheiro (81kg) and Rafael Buzacarini (100kg) came in second, while Walter Santos (+ 100kg) finished on third.
Brazil ended its participation in the Open Warsaw on Sunday, March 1st, winning three more medals: two silver and a bronze. Leandro Guilheiro (81kg) and Rafael Buzacarini (100kg) came in second, while Walter Santos (+ 100kg) finished on third. Thus, the selection ends the competition with five medals, three bronze and two silver ones. On Saturday, Alex Pombo (73kg) and Eric Takabatake (60kg) had won two bronze medals.
After a two year-break due to a serious injury in the cruised ligament of his right knee, Leandro Guilheiro reached the final for the first time since his return in October 2014. In the decision, he faced an old acquaintance, the Southern Korean Ki Chun Wang, his tormentor in the quarter-finals of the Olympics from Beijing 2008. This time, using a seoi nage, Wang got a yuko, made Leandro get penalized three times and thus Brazil was out from the fight for the first place. Guilhero’s last individual podium was in 2012 at the Pan-American Championship from Montreal. On his social page, the athlete posted a picture of the medal and set in a few words the meaning of the moment: "The first ippons, the first medal. The first step. "
The second medal came in the final as well and it was brought by Rafael Buzacarini (100kg) who thus managed to take the silver after three penalties, two more than his opponent, Russian Mikhail Kosyashnikov. "I feel sad about losing in the final, but happy for my performance throughout the competition. There's a lot to improve and enhance and this makes me even more eager togo back to my work", the half- heavyweight said.
The bronze won by Walter Santos (+ 100kg) was conquered after the giving up of his opponent, the Turkish Feyyaz Yazici. He also made a nice performance before getting in the contention for bronze, defeating the German Pierre Borkowsk and the Uzbek Elyor Masharipov.
Besides them, there were three more Brazilian judokas who entered the mat. Eduardo Bettoni (90kg) did not reach the second round, stopping in the first fight against the Mongol Tsogtgerel Khutag. Luciano Correa reached the second fight, but he did not pass by the Danish Frederik Joergensen. Felipe Costa (81kg), on the other hand, had been well until the repechage, where he fell to the ippon applied by the German Benjamin Muennich.
With these medals, Brazil ends the competition with five podiums, three bronze (Alex Pombo, Eric Takabatake and Walter Santos) and two silver medals (Leandro Guilheiro and Rafael Buzacarini). Overall, the country ranked sixth. The Brazilian team’s next competition will be Santiago Open on March 7th and 8th.
