Gold-Awarded at the Panamerican Judo Championships, Charles Chibana Leads the World Rankings in the Lightweight Category
Alex Pombo and Tiago Camilo, champions as well, are the athletes who get higher in the ranking.
The Brazilian athletes’ good performance at the Pan American Championships was favorable to them according to the last update of the world rankings released on Tuesday on the website of the International Judo Federation. Similarly to Rafael Silva (+100 kg) and Sarah Menezes (48kg), Charles Chibana ( 66kg ) leads his weight category. The athlete who was bronze-awarded in the Continental Championship from 2013, won the gold medal at the Pan American Guayaquil, Ecuador, and scored 400 additional points for the ranking and so he reached 1706 points. He overcame the Mongolian Tumurkhuleg Davaadorj, who was leading the category, and the Japanese Masashi Ebinuma, who used to be on the second. Moreover, he overcame the Frenchman David Larose, the European vice-champion, who is now on the second place.
“I feel happy for everything I\'m doing. Things have been going well and it shows that I\'m on the right path. Everybody wants to be better than who\'s on top, so I\'ll keep focused and not give under pressure, “said Chibana, who can still be overtaken by Davaadorj and Ebinuma since the Asian Championship will be held only in September, together with the Asian Games and it will be considered the sixth result for the ranking.
But the main rises were Pan American champions’ such as Alex Pombo (73kg) and Tiago Camilo (90kg). The \"King of ippon\", as Tiago is known, who has not been competing since April 2013 and was a vice-champion in 2013, rose from the 24th to 9th place thanks to the title of the Cuban Andy Granda. How he scores 902 points. The leader of the ranking is Varlam Liparteliani, Georgia, followed by the Cuban Asley Gonzalez and by the Greek Ilias Iliadis. Considered one of the best athletes of the competition, Pombo won all his fights, including the dispute by teams, by ippon, climbed from the 20th to 11th place (from 658 to 1058 points) and he resumed leading the Brazilians, overcoming Marcelo Contini.
\"The Pan-American’s score is the sixth in the rankings and it makes a big difference. I want to keep evolving, working even harder to keep improving and overcome the top 10 athletes. My goal is competing well-prepared in the World Championships, “Pombo said.
Three Brazilian are in the second position: Erika Miranda, in the half - lightweight (52 kg); Rafaela Silva, the world champion in the lightweight (57 kg); and the heavyweight Maria Suelen Altheman (+78 kg). Victor Penalber is on the third position in the half-middleweight (81 kg), while Mayra Aguiar is the fourth among the half-heavyweight (78 kg).
Top 10 has six more Brazilian athletes: David Moura is the fifth among the heavyweight (+100 kg), Felipe Kitadai is placed the sixth among the lightweight (60 kg), the same position as Luciano Correa’s one in the half- heavyweight (100 kg) and Ketleyn Quadros in the lightweight (57 kg) and Mariana Barros is the ninth among the half-middleweight (63kg).
