Felipe Kitadai and Nathália Brigida Reach the Fifth Place in Astana 2015 World Championship

Brazil reached two fights for medals in the beginning of the competition. On Tuesday Charles Chibana and Erika Miranda will be fighting

Brazil had four extra-lightweight athletes fighting at Alau Ice Palace and two of them reached the fights for medals on the first day of Astana 2015 World Championship. Felipe Kitadai and Nathália Brigida had a good performance and finished in fifth place. The bronze medalist in London won four of his six fights, but did not manage to reach the podium because he was defeated by the Ippon of the Japanese Toru Shishime. The Japanese athlete also won the fight against another Brazilian counterpart, Eric Takabatake, whom he met in the second round. A rookie in World Senior Championships, Nathália Brigida, had also an excellent performance because she managed to reach the semi-finals. However, she suffered two losses in a row against the Japaneses Haruna Asami and Ami Kondo and finished honorably on the fifth place. The complete keys can be seen in the attached file.

"It's sad to see that despite fighting as well as I could in this tough World Championship, I go out with no medal. But it’s not that bad since it helped me realize that I’m working on the right path. The most important thing was seeing my evolution. This serves as motivation to get a medal in 2016, "Kitadai said.

"It's kind of frustrating because of all the preparation I’ve had before the championship and also because I was feeling very confident. The defeat was against a strong opponent but I know it was possible getting a medal. Now I have to analyze my mistakes and prepare further for the next competition "Takabatake said. Before being defeated by Shishime, Takabatake won the fights against the Chinese Hui Li and the Spanish Francisco Garrigós, world junior champion.

The athlete from Sogipa faced Otar Bestaev from Kyrgyzstan; José Ramos, from Guatemala; Vincent Limare from France. In the quarterfinals, he lost the fight against the Mongolian Boldbaatar Ganbat. In repechage, he manage to win the fight against the Southern Korean In Hyuk Choi but in the contention for bronze, he was defeated by the Japanese Shishime, bronze medalist in the last World Junior Championship.

Nathália had four wins and two losses in her campaign. She won the fights against Cristina Budescu from Moldavia, Ana Zhumali Kyzy from Kyrgyzstan, Dilara Lokmanhekim from Turkey and Monica Ungureanu from Romania. Then there came two losses, both against the former world champions, the Japaneses Haruna Asami and Ami Kondo.

"Despite leaving the competition with no medal, I was happy with what I’ve done, I fought against difficult athletes. Other high-level athletes did not manage to stay further in the competition. I think it was a good start and I go out from this competition with an improvement and a great learning experience. I wanted the medal, I know it was a possible target and I'm already thinking about correcting my mistakes because there are other important competitions ahead, "Brigida said.

Sarah Menezes also competed on Monday, August 24th, but she could not resist the Belgian Charline Van Snick, bronze medalist in London Games and Rio 2013 World Championships. Van Snick stayed out of the World Tour for one year because of a doping but she had reached the podium in five of six competitions since that time.

"I had a very good preparation, I was very confident but  faced a hard key and I was not successful in the first fight. I lost against an athlete by penalty, and when I was risking an entry at the end of the fight, I ended up taking a kickback. She had a very good strategy and managed to overcome me. Now I have to pull myself together and keep on training to perform better in the next competitions, “Sarah said.

The World    Judo Championship continues on Tuesday and Brazil will have two athletes in action: the half-lightweight athletes Charles Chibana and Erika Miranda. The fights for medals start at two am and the last block (from the quarter-final) at eight am, Brasília time zone. SporTV, Esporte Interativo, ESPN and BandSports broadcast the competition.