Erika Miranda Is Bronze Awarded at Astana 2015 World Judo Championship

The athlete from Brasilia wins her third consecutive medal in world championships and Brazil’s first one in Kazakhstan. Rafaela Silva (57kg) and Marcelo Contini (73kg) will be fighting on Wednesday morning.

As it happened last year, Erika Miranda was responsible for Brazil's first medal at Astana 2015 World Championship. On Tuesday, the athlete from Minas Tennis Club defeated Odette Giuffrida, the promising young Italian judoka, in the bronze contention, for having a punishment less than her opponent. It is the third World Championship in a row in which Erika reaches the podium and the fourth consecutive one in which she gets into  the competition for medals. An impressive consistency.

"I really wanted the gold, but we are talking about the World Championships, a very strong competition. I think the bad thing would have been leaving the competition with no medal. So I'm quite satisfied and I would like to thank my club and BJC for giving me the support to get where I am. Today I went out with the bronze, "said the athlete from Brasilia.

The World Championship continues on Wednesday, with the fights of the lightweight category represented by the Brazilians Marcelo Contini and Rafaela Silva. The fighting begins at 2 am Brasilia time, and the first part of the program goes on until the quarterfinals. The repechage, the semifinals and the fights for medals begin at 8 am, Brasilia time zone. SporTV, Esporte Interativo, BandSports and ESPN broadcast the competition.

Before reaching the bronze contention from Tuesday, Erika Miranda began with a lot of energy, winning the first three fights, all by ippon, two by strangulation with her preferred technique of soil, koshi-jime - against Lenariya Mingazova from Kazakhstan; and Darya Skrypnik from Belarus. In the first fight against Zhanna Stankevich from Armenia, she threw her opponent twice by wazari  and decided the end of the fight in its first minute. In the semifinal, she faced the current world three-time champion Misato Nakamura (JPN) and was defeated by wazari in the end of the combat. But the bronze came fifteen minutes later and it proved to be a  great test of overcoming of the Brazilian.

"It's not easy when you come to a competition aiming to be a champion, you are defeated and then you manage to pull yourself and score against the opponent. I've had that feeling twice: in Chelyabinsk and now. I hope I won’t have that feeling anymore. So I will work and dedicate myself harder for Rio 2016, "Erika said.

In the male light- middleweight category, Charles Chibana also competed on Tuesday, but was overcome by the Chinese Duanbin Ma in the first fight.