Maria Portela Is Called for the World Teams Judo Championships
The high performance management of the Brazilian Judo Confederation announced on Monday, July 21st, that Maria Portela (70kg) was called for the Chelyabinsk 2014 World Teams Judo Championships. The athlete, who is now participating in a training camp held in Cologne, Germany with the women’s team, will join the Brazilian delegation in Russia on August 28th.
"The coaching committee found that due to Maria’s spirit of leadership and commitment with the group, her presence would be important in competition," said Ney Wilson, the BJC’s Performance Director.
Portela has now the opportunity to help the women's team get the gold in the World Judo Championships. Brazil won a bronze medal in the World Championships Salvador 2012 and a silver one in the World Championships Rio 2013. Portela has even won all her fights in the team competition held in the Marvelous City and was fundamental in the team’s success.
"I think it's a great opportunity to help the team get the title that we missed last year! I'll be supporting everybody in the individual fights and I’ll do my best in the teams one. I would like to thank for this opportunity and I'm very happy to help my mates, "said "Raçudinha dos Pampas" as Portela is known.
Profile
Full Name: Maria de Lourdes Mazzoleni Portela
Category: Middleweight (70kg)
Height: 158cm
Weight: 70kg
Born: 14/01/1988 in Júlio de Castillos - RS
Club: Sogipa / RS
Preferred technique: Ura-nage
Kumikata: Right-hand
Main Results: Champion in Grand Slam of Moscow 2012; Pan American champion in Montreal 2012 and silver-awarded in Buenos Aires 2009; bronze in the Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011; bronze in Grand Slam Rio 2011; silver in the European Open Prague 2013; champion of the World Military Championships in Astana 2013; gold in the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2012; silver in the Grand Prix Qingdao 2012 and in Dusseldorf 2012; bronze in the Grand Prix of Ulaanbaatar 2014.
