Brazilian Team departs to Europe for four World Cups

After the Rio Grand Slam and the São Paulo World Cup the Brazilian Team departed on June 2nd to Europe, where it will take part in four stages of the World Circuit of the International Judo Federation. The athletes will fight in the Madrid World Cup/ESP (male), Bucharest/ROU (female), Lisbon/POR (male) and Tallinn/EST (female). The tournaments are worth points for the world and Olympic ranking of the sport.

During the first leg of the trip, the judokas will dispute the World Cups in Madrid and Bucharest. Brazil will be represented by Josiane Falco (-57kg), Rafaela Silva (-57kg), Laisa Santana (-63kg), Helena Romaneli (-70kg), Aline Puglia (+78kg), Felipe Kitadai (-60kg), Diogo Ferreira (-60kg), Breno Alves (-60kg), Alex Pombo (-66kg), Charles Chibana (-66kg), Marcos Seixas (-66kg), Leandro Cunha (-66kg), Bruno Mendonça (-73kg), Adriano Santos (-73kg), Flávio Canto (-81kg), Alexandre Coli (-81kg), Tiago Camilo (-90kg), Felipe Oliveira (-90kg), Hugo Pessanha (-90kg), Felipe Costa (-90kg), Alex Aguiar (-100kg), Leonardo Leite (-100kg) and Rafael Silva (+100kg).

The Brazilian Team returns to Brazil on June 14th. The team will have worn the official Brazilian kimono for 26 days straight, beginning with the Grand Slam in Rio.

“I like to compete, but when you are fighting in important competitions for so long you need to know how to practice, in order not to over work and end up with an injury. I lost a good opportunity to earn some point during the São Paulo World Cup and I have to make it up in Europe. Because of the world ranking, you need to score points all the time so you are never leave the top of the list and so avoiding to be cut”, said Leonardo Leite.