Sarah Menezes Seeks Her Third Gold in Russia
The extra-lightweight athlete (48kg) climbed on the podium’s highest position in the last two Grand Slams held in the country in 2012 and 2013.
Sarah Menezes arrives tomorrow, along with 13 other Brazilian judokas, in Russia. The current vice-leader of the world ranking in the extra-lightweight category (48kg) – the leader is the Mongolian Urantsetseg Munkhbat - fights next Saturday, July 12th, in the Grand Slam of Tyumen and seeks to repeat her excellent performance she had in recent Grand Slams.
This is the first time Tyumen hosts a Grand Slam. The other editions were held in Moscow. In 2012 and 2013, Sarah Menezes became a champion and, this year, very close to the World Championships, she seeks to repeat her success. "In previous years I was a champion, so I want to leave this place with the gold medal once again, keeping my good performance," the athlete said.
The Grand Slam of Tyumen is the most important competition since the qualifying stage for the 2016 Olympic Games, which started in May. So it should gather most of the countries and their major judokas, being thus a test-event for the World Judo Championships. The Olympic champion stated: "As everybody comes to the main competitions, we already know each other, but still it's good to set up a few details.”
Sarah Menezes’s last competition was the Grand Prix of Havana, disputed in early June. The Brazilian got the bronze medal.
Sarah and the World Cup Soccer
An athlete's life is not easy and one cannot always keep track of everything that happens. In this World Cup Soccer, the judoka and her teammates could not watch the match of Brazil against Germany, which could lead the country to the Grand Finale at the Maracana, next Sunday. The Brazilian national judo will be flying towards one more challenge.
Even without being able to check her country’s performance, the athlete is supportive and believes that even without Neymar, Brazil can reach the final. "I believe Brazil has great chances of reaching the final. I think that, due to Neymar's absence, the team will try to use more the other players and this can make the game more dynamic. Brazilians can play well and they may leave the pit as champions, "the judoka said.
The judoka made a guess of the score. "I think it will be 2-1 to Brazil," she ventured.
Brazilian representatives in the Grand Slam of Tyumen
Besides Sarah Menezes (48kg) the green and yellow flag will be defended by Erika Miranda (52kg), Rafaela Silva (57kg), Ketleyn Quadros (57kg), Mariana Barros (63kg), Barbara Timo (70kg), Mayra Aguiar (78kg) Mary Suelen Altheman (+78 kg), Felipe Kitadai (60kg), Charles Chibana (66kg), Alex Pombo (73kg), Victor Penalber (81kg), Luciano Correa (100 kg) and Rafael Silva (+100 kg).
The Performance Director Ney Wilson, the coaches Luiz Shinohara and Rosicleia Campos, the nutritionist Roberta Lima, physiotherapist Fabio Minutti and the strategist Leonardo Mataruna join the Brazilian delegation.
After the event, the athletes will stay in the Russian city for the Training Camp organized between July 14th and 16th. Later, the women go to Germany, for another training camp. In August, the best world judo athletes come back to Russia, this time to Chelyabink for the World Championships which will be held from August 25th to 31st.
