Flavia Gomes and Victor Penalber Win Gold in the World Military Championship
Mariana Barros Wins the Silver Medal whereas Alex Pombo the Bronze
The third day of competition of the World Military Judo Championship which is being held in Astana, Kazakhstan‘s capital, showed once again the dominance of Brazilian athletes. Similarly to Wednesday, the first day of individual tournament, Brazil won two gold medals and a silver one. On Thursday, Alex Pombo brought to Brazil one more bronze. Flavia Gomes (57kg) and Victor Penalber (81kg) became world champions while Mariana Barros (63kg) conquered the silver.
\"I won four out of five fights I took part in. In the repechage, I got an eyebrow injury right in the beginning of the fight but I managed to defeat the Finn opponent by wazari. Then, I defeated the Spanish and the German athletes in the fight for bronze. Now it\'s time to recover from this setback and enjoy the victory, \"Alex Pombo said.
Scoring four medals today, Brazil has conquered a total of nine. Our country was a champion in the tournament of women’s teams and got silver in the men’s. In the individual tournament, Felipe Kitadai (60kg) and Eleudis Valentim (52kg) were also gold champions and Sarah Menezes took the silver. Leandro Cunha (66kg) got in the fight for bronze but he ended up in fifth place. Summing up, all Brazilian judokas who have already competed won medals.
\"I am very happy with my performance in the World Championship because I managed to apply well some blows and defeat my opponents. The final was very tough and unfortunately I could not win. But this medal will serve as an incentive to continue working. I just have to keep doing my best and then good things will start happening, \"said Mariana Barros.
The World Military Championship ends next Friday, July 5th, with the heavy categories competing. Maria Portela (70kg), Mayra Aguiar (78kg), Maria Suelen Altheman (+78 kg), Luciano Correa (100kg) and Walter Santos (+100 kg) defend the Brazilian colors. Eduardo Santos (90kg) suffered an injury in the team tournament and will not be able to compete.
The Brazilian delegation led by the coach Mário Sabino (men’s) and Kiko Pereira (women’s) comes back on July 8th.
By: Press Agency
