Rafael Buzacarini Wins Gold in Santiago

The half-heavyweight judoka was the second Brazilian to reach the contention for gold in the Open de Santiago. Luiz Revite (66kg) won the silver medal on Saturday.

After winning two medals on Saturday, a bronze one by Nathália Brígida (48kg) and a silver by Luiz Revite (66kg), two more Brazilians stepped on the Chilean mat on Sunday in search for the podium: Rafael Buzacarini (100kg) and Giovana Silva (70kg).

Silver awarded in the Warsaw Open on Sunday, Buzacarini was the second Brazilian to reach the contention for gold. Right from the beginning, he applied an ippon on the Mexican Hector Campos and advanced  in the fight against Jason Koster (NZL). A yuko brought the Brazilian in the final against the Russian Adlan Bizultanov. In the decision, Bizultanov had three penalties and the Brazilian got just twoand so the later won the gold medal, which meant his second podium in a week.

Giovana Silva (70kg), on the other hand, did not have her best performance and fell in the first fight against the Mexican Andrea Poo, who would later take the bronze.

With the medal from Sunday, Brazil closed the competition with three podiums: a gold, a silver and a bronze. In the general context, the country ranked fourth, behind Russia (1), Mexico (2) and Belgium (3).