Thanks to Their Panamerican Scores, There Are Now Eleven Brazilian Judokas in Top 10 World Ranking
Mayra Aguiar (78kg) and Rafael Silva (+ 100kg) took again the lead of their categories.
Brazil has again two leaders of the world rankings after the International Judo Federation counted the scores of the Pan American Championships Edmonton 2015. This week’s ranking update also takes into account the loss of 50% of the European Championship points as well as the addition of the points of the Africa Cup which was also held last weekend. The half-heavyweight Mayra Aguiar, Panamerican champion, and the heavyweight Rafael Silva, vice-champion, overcame the French Audrey Tcheumeo and Teddy Riner and so they resumed the leadership of their categories. Apart from them, Brazil has had 11 judokas among the top 10 in the world ranking. The information comes from judobase.org, the statistics web page of the International Judo Federation, daily updated.
Since she did not fight in the Pan in 2014 due to a recovering from knee surgery and elbow, Mayra had no points to defend and thus she added 400 of them in her account. Scoring 2480 points, the athlete from the Rio Grande do Sul left behind her French counterpart. Third placed is the American Kayla Harrison herself, who was defeated by Mayra's in the Pan’s decision. In the historic confrontation between the two, the Brazilian has one victory more than the athlete from the United States. seven to six.
Rafael Silva, despite being defeated by his Brazilian fellow David Moura, in the decision of the heavy category disputed in Canada, added 240 points in his account and overcame Riner, who lost the points got in last year’s European Championship. Moreover, the French was also overtaken by the Tunisian Faicel Jaballah, the current African triple champion. The champion David Moura, who added 400 points to the ranking, moved up four positions and is now in the eighth place.
Besides these three athletes, there are more eight Brazilian judokas in top 10. Felipe Kitadai (60kg) stays in ninth; Charles Chibana (66kg) is the fourth; Alex Pombo (73kg) is the 8th, thanks to his Pan-American title; Victor Penalber (81kg) moved up one position until the third place; Sarah Menezes (48kg) is still in second; Erika Miranda (52kg) remains in third; Rafaela Silva (57kg), Pan American vice champion, moved up two positions and she is now the second; and Maria Suelen Altheman (+ 78kg), who is still recovering from an injury and did not take part in the Pan remained in second among the heavyweight female judokas.
The other medalists at the Pan American also won important positions. Silver awarded, Eric Takabatake (60kg) won four positions and is now the 13th, having only 270 points less than the best placed Brazilian judoka, Felipe Kitadai. It's the same position as Tiago Camilo’s (90kg), who also climbed four places in the rankings, and Luciano Correa’s (100kg), who moved up three.
Regarding the women’s ranking, Mariana Silva (63kg), Pan American vice champion, moved up two places and she is now 14th. Maria Portela, bronze awarded, won four places to reach the 18th. The athlete from RS has just 127 points less than Barbara Timo, placed fifth in the Pan, who climbed three positions and she is the 22nd. Rochelle Nunes, Pan American vice-champion, is now the 15th after winning two positions in the rankings.
