Rafael Silva Is Back on Top of the World Rankings by Two Points

Charles Chibana, Sarah Menezes, Mayra Aguiar and Maria Suelen Altheman are in second place.

The world ranking was updated on Monday and Brazil has to celebrate: Rafael Silva, Baby, came back on top among the heavy judokas, overcoming Teddy Riner by just two points: 2252 x 2250. This update took into account the loss of points scored in the recent editions of the Grand Slam of Paris – due to a work in the traditional gym Bercy the GS will be carried out in October - and the Open European Sofia.

According to the rules of the International Judo Federation, after a year, the scored are half less worthy  and every two years they worth nothing. Ie who was GS champion in Paris in 2014 totaled 500 points for the world ranking. This means that the 2014 champion scored 500 points for the world ranking. Now he has just 250 and next year he will have 0 points from this competition. Last year neither Baby nor Riner took part in the competition but in 2013 the French became the champion while Rafael was fifth. This is how the shift in the scoreboard may be explained.

Another athlete in a prime ranking position is Charles Chibana. The half-lightweight judoka has 1800 points, the same as the Japanese Masashi Ebinuma points but he is in the second place because of the first tiebreaker which is their performance in the last World Judo Championship held in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Ebinuma is the current world champion.

In women, Brazil is well placed in five of the seven categories. The Olympic champion extralight Sarah Menezes , the world champion half- heavyweight Mayra Aguiar and the vice-world champion heavyweight Maria Suelen Altheman are second in their categories. Erika Miranda, bronze medalist at the last two world championships is the third in the half-lightweight (52kg), while Rafaela Silva, world champion in 2013, is the fifth in the lightweight category (57kg).

The first competition of the season for the Brazilians is the Grand Prix from Dusseldorf, Germany, from 20^th to 22^nd February. The delegation travels next Tuesday and will consist of main and spare athletes.

Best placed Brazilians in the World Ranking
Men
60kg - Felipe Kitadai (9^th) and Eric Takabatake (15^th)
66kg - Charles Chibana (2^nd)
73kg - Alex Pombo (18^th) and Marcelo Contini (22^nd)
81kg - Victor Penalber (3^rd)
90kg - Tiago Camilo (15^th)
100kg - Luciano Corrêa (13^th)
+100kg - Rafael Silva (1^st) and David Moura (11^th)

Women
48kg - Sarah Menezes (2^nd)
52kg - Érika Miranda (3^rd)
57kg - Rafaela Silva (5^th) and Ketleyn Quadros (14^th)
63kg - Mariana Silva (21^st)
70kg - Maria Portela (22^nd)
78kg - Mayra Aguiar (2^nd)
+78kg - Maria Suelen Altheman (2^nd) and Rochele Nunes (18^th)