Charles Chibana Gets the Bronze Medal at the Grand Prix fromTurkey
It was his first competition after recovering from an elbow injury. Ketleyn Quadros (57kg) and Vinicius Sakamoto ( 66kg ) fought today as well.
Charles Chibana began the year as he had finished the previous one: on the podium. He is now on the third place of the ranking in the half lightweight category (66kg). More than that, Chibana won the bronze this Friday, March 28th, at the Grand Prix of Samsun, Turkey. With the medal, he added 120 points to the score of the world ranking. This was Chibana’s first competition of the year, given the fact that he could not take part anymore in the Grand Slam in Paris because of an injury on his left elbow. The last tournament he took part in was the Grand Slam Tokyo held in December last year. There he won the silver award.
In Turkey, more precisely at Yasar Dogu Sports Arena, Chibana began by defeating Fethie Nourine from Algeria by ippon in the first two minutes of the fight. In the quarter -finals, he was beaten by Sinan Sandal by wazari and he went to repechage where he faced the Hungarian Gabor Hagyo and whom he defeated by ippon in just 55 seconds. In the contention for bronze, he managed to control the fight against the Mongol Altansukh Dovdon , the one who overcame Vinicius Sakamoto ( 66kg ) in the first round. Chibana forced his opponent to take two punishments, securing thus the third place.
\"I was a bit off the pace because I haven’t been fighting at an international level for almost four months as well as a little apprehensive because of the new rules. But everything was ok. Back from an injury and reaching the podium made me very happy, “Charles Chibana said. The gold and silver went to France. David Larose was the champion and Loic Korval the silver-winner. The other bronze was awarded to the British Colin Oates.
Besides Chibana and Sakamoto , Brazil was also represented by Ketleyn Quadros ( 57kg ). The current sixth in the world ranking began with a victory over Nesria Jlassi from Tunisia by ippon in the very first two minutes of the fight. In the quarter-finals, she had a hard fight against the Hungarian Hedvig Karakas, but she was eventually defeated by wazari. In the repechage, she applied a yuko to the Romanian Corina Caprioriu, but she eventually suffered ippon. With this, the athlete from Brasilia ended the Grand Prix brasiliense in the 5th place. The gold went to Laetitia Blot (FRA), the silver to Miryam Roper ( GER ) and the bronze to Corina Caprioriu (ROU) and Hedvig Karakas ( HUN ).
On Saturday the mat will be stepped on by Victor Penalber ( 81kg ) , Mariana Barros ( 63kg ) and Barbara Timo ( 70kg ). And on Sunday, the Brazilian representative is Maria Suelen Altheman ( +78 kg ). The Turkish Grand Prix counts on 356 athletes - 208 men and 148 in women - from 45 countries.
The disputes in Yasar Dogu Sports Arena begin at five o\'clock in the morning and the last block enters at 11 am Brasilia time zone. Keys can be checked in the file attached. The delegation will stays in Samsun, located 400km north of the capital Ankara, until 31st when they come back to Brazil. After the Grand Prix of Samsun, the next appointment of the selection is the Pan-American Championships , which will be held in Guayaquil , Ecuador, on April 25th and 26th.
