New generation of judokas como back with lots of medals

In an unprecedented action promoted by the Brazilian Judo Confederation, the judokas of the Under-17 and Under-20 teams from Brazil spent two weeks competing and training in Europe. The result could be seen on the tatamis, with 34 medals won, besides a bronze medal at a friendly competition by teams. The athletes of the new generation have already started coming back home. On Wednesday, 31st, the Under-17 team arrived. On Saturday, Abril 3rd, it will be the arrival of the Under-20’s. The athletes have shown that the new generation that might represent the country during the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro is already gaining international experience.

There were a total of five events in 15 days, besides the training camps. They were: the Bremen, Thuringia and Vulkaneifel Tournaments, in Germany, and the Coimbra Tournament, in Portugal. The bronze for the team was won in a friendly competition against Japan, Germany and Kazakhstan.

Well know names like the U-20 world champion Rafaela Silva and the U-17 world champion Flávia Gomes have confirmed their favoritism. In Thuringia, Rafaela won the gold in a draw of 61 judokas. Going up the podium were Eleudis Valentim (-52kg U-20) and Águeda Silva (-44kg U-20), both winning the silver medal. Also in Thuringia, Nathália Brígida (-48kg U-20), Sibilla Facholli (-70kg U-17) and Flávia Gomes (-63kg U-20) finished in third place. At the Bremen Tournament, also in Germany, the judoka Jonas Inocêncio (-100kg), won the silver medal for Brazil. Nicolas Santos (-60kg) and Ricardo Santos (-66kg) won the bronze medal in this competition.

In Coimbra (Portugal), in an event worth point in the U-20 European Circuit, the -63kg female category had a green-and-yellow final with Flávia Gomes and Fernanda Peinado. Flávia took the gold. Samantha Soares (+78kg), Agueda Silva (-44kg), Nathalia Brigida (-48kg) and Rafaela Silva (-57kg) also finished on the top spot of the podium while Sergio Yoshimura (-55kg), Alla Kawabara (-60kg), Eleudis Valentim (-52kg) and Daniel Sousa (+100kg) took the bronze medal.

While the Coimbra Tournament was happening in Portugal, the U-17 team was fighting and domination the Regional Vulkaneifel Tournament, in Kaiserslautern. There were 14 gold medals: Lais Lessa (-40kg), Nathália Mercadante (-44kg), Alexia Castilhos (-48kg), Beatriz Nery (-57kg), Beatriz Oliveira (-70kg), Sibilla Faccholli (+70kg), Leonardo Tavares (-50kg), Alessandro Machado (-55kg), Nicolas Santos (-60kg), Ricardo Santos (-66kg), Gustavo Assis (-73kg), Eduardo Gonçalves (-81kg), Gabriel Souza (-90kg) and Tiago Bastos (+90 kg).

“The competitions were tough and the results were very good, meeting our expectations. Even though I have had contact with the girls for a very short while, I noticed that they are very dedicated to their technical and tactical training. They need a special care to keep evolving. They all have tremendous potential, but need to deepen their technical knowledge, with sequence of hits and the transition of stand-up to lay-down fight”, explained Douglas Vieira, coach of the U-20 female team and silver medalist of the Olympic Games 1984 in Los Angeles.