Rafaela Silva Is Gold-Awarded in Rome and the Brazilian Participation Ends This Saturday with Six Medals

In the \"Eternal City \", six Brazilian athletes were among the favorites to reach the podium and three of them were awarded, indeed; in Oberwart three other medals were conquered on the first day of competition.

The year starts to \"warm up\" for the Brazilian athletes; on Saturday, six medals were won in two simultaneous competitions in which the Brazilians are participating. In Rome, where the women\'s team is, three medals were conquered, apart from three other fifth places. The world champion Rafaela Silva (57kg), in her first competition as the leader of the ranking of the International Judo Federation, won four fights  against Ekaterina Melnikova (RUS), Lien Chen Ling (TAI) , Alessia Regis (ITA) and in end , Christa Deguchi (JAP) - and so she reached the top of the podium.

“The competition is not worth points on the ranking for me (since it is not IJF’s), but as Rosi and Ney always say, this was a training of luxury - and a  great training. The competition was very strong and I could reach the decision where I defeated Deguchi, who had beaten me in Tokyo . There\'s nothing better than coming home with a feeling of accomplishment. It\'s good to free my soul as well. I’d had enough of being defeated by the Japanese, \"said the champion Rafaela Silva.

The other two Brazilian athletes who went on the podium did it so after winning against their teammates. Indeed, Mariana Silva (63kg) had to undergo a semifinal against Mariana Barros, whereas Maria Suelen Altheman (+78 kg) met Rochele Nunes in the repechage, won it and went to the contention for bronze. In the decision regarding the up-to-63kg category, Mariana Silva who had already defeated Rotem Shor (ISR), Edwige Gwend (ITA) and Mariana Barros faced the Japanese Megumi Tsugane in the decision, but she ended up losing and took the silver. Maria Suelen Altheman started defeating Elisa Marchio (ITA), but the she lost against Sisi Ma (CHI). In the repechage, she defeated Rochele Nunes and won the bronze medal by defeating Emilie Andeol (FRA).

In Austria, Oberwart, there was only the first day of competition, stepping on the mats the categories -60kg, 66kg and 73kg. Felipe Kitadai (60kg) won his first three fights against Carmine Maria di Loreto (ITA), Matjaz Trbovc (SLO) and Yoav Shemesh (ISR), the last two by ippon. In the final, he could not win the round against Ryo Kawabata (JAP) and got the silver medal. Also among the lightweight athletes, Diego Santos defeated Laszlo Burjan (HUN), Kamel Mohamedi (FRA), Jeroen Mooren (NED) and Savva Karakizidi (RUS), and as he lost to Ryo Kawabata (JAP) halfway, he left the competition with the bronze medal.

The other Brazilians did not reach the podium. Gabriela Chibana (48kg) defeated Alexandra Podryadova (KAZ), Tatiana Osoianu (MOL), Valentina Moscatt (ITA) in the semifinal, but she was eventually won over by Paula Pareto (ARG). Falling in the repechage, there she found Shishi Xie (CHI), she lost and got in the fifth place ; Nathália Brigida ( 48kg ) started defeating Aiora Arrillaga ( SPA ) , but she lost in the round against Noa Minsker (ISR); Erika Miranda (52kg) fell in the first few seconds of her campaign against the Belgian Lotte Denoo ( BEL ); Ketleyn Quadros (57kg) defeated Martina lo Giudice ( ITA ) and Nekoda Davis (GBR) , before being defeating by Christa Deguchi (JAP) in the semifinals, and Chen Ling Lien (TAI), in the contention for bronze; Mariana Barros ( 63kg ) began winning Renata Bucatari (ROM) and Valentina Giorgis (ITA), but in the fight against the Brazilian Mariana Silva from the semifinal, the athlete from Pernambuco could not win it and so she went disputing the bronze. In this round, she had to face Junxia Yang (CHI) and she lost again, getting thus the fifth place. Katherine Campos ( 63kg ) has the misfortune of facing the Japanese Tsugane right on her first fight, and could not move forward; Nadia Merli ( 70kg ) debuted defeating Marisa Celletti (ITA), but she ended up falling in the fight against Tomoe Ueno (JAP) and being sent to the repechage. There, she manage to defeat Lior Wildikan, but she could not be successful in the contention for bronze against Klys Katarzyna (POL) ; Maria Portela (70kg) and Barbara Timo (70kg) left the competition right from the beginning because of Alena Prokopenko ( RUS ) and Yarden Mayersohn (ISR), Samantha Soares ( 78kg ) defeated Albina Amangeldiyeva ( KAZ ) and Katarzyna Furmanek ( POL ), but then she was defeated by Mami Umeki ( JAP ) and Saedelaere Sofie ( BEL ) in the contention for medal, taking thus only the fifth place ; Rochele Nunes (+78 kg), in turn, had won Sara Alvarez Bonfire ( SPA ) and Sarah Asahina ( JAP) , before fighting against Maria Suelen Altheman.

Luiz Revite ( 66kg ) ended up being defeated by Hagyo Gabor ( HUN ) in his first round; Alex Pombo ( 73kg ) defeated Nemanja Petrovic ( BE ) , Phridon Gigani ( GEO ) and Zemlikhan Ozdoev ( RUS ), then he lost to Takenori Nakamura ( JAP ) in the semifinal round, but he came back  winning , this time against Alejandro Clara ( ARG ) , and so he conquered the medal ; Marcelo Contini ( 73kg ) ended up being defeated  in the first fight against Soshin Katsumi (GER) and Bruno Mendonça (73kg) defeated Tamas Urbancsok (HUN), Peter Scharinger (AUT) and Tamazi Kirakozashvili (GEO), but the he was defeated by Odbayar Ganbaatar (MGL) and Zelimnkhan Ozdoev (RUS) .

This Sunday, at Sporthalle Oberwart seven other Brazilian athletes step on the mats. Eduardo Bettoni ( 90kg ) against Hagyo Gabor ( HUN ) ; Eduardo Santos ( 90kg ) agaist Valeriu Chisca ( EAU) ; Renan Nunes ( 100kg ) is waiting for the winner of the fight between Chingiz Mamedov ( CHI ) and Julian Reichstein ( AUT ) ; Hugo Pessanha ( 100kg ) will face Ryosuke Takahashi ( JAP ) or Sergio Garcia ( MEX ) ; Luciano Correa ( 100kg ) will face Toma Nikiforov ( BEL ) or Vladyslav Dibrova ( UCR ); Rafael Buzacarini ( 100kg ) waits for Cirjenics Miklos ( HUN ) or Daniel Matei (ROM) , David Moura ( +100 kg ) will face the winner of the fight between Yakiv Khammo (UKR)  and Bendegúz Demeter (HUN).

The fights start at six o\'clock whereas the final block begins at 12:15.

The keys from this Saturday and Sunday can be seen in the documents attached to this article.