The Brazilian Team Is Boarding This Sunday to the GP of Mongolia
The team is composed of eight judokas. The competition will be held on July 4th, 5th and 6th.
The Brazilian team’s next appointment is the Grand Prix of Ulaanbaatar from July 4th – 6th. Since it is a long journey to the center of Asia, the eight athletes who will represent Brazil in the competition will board on Sunday to Mongolia. The delegation will consist of Eric Takabatake (60kg), Bruno Mendonça (73kg), Rafael Buzacarini (100kg), David Moura (+100 kg), Mariana Silva (63kg), Maria Portela (70kg), Nadia Merli (70kg) and Claudirene Cezar (+78 kg). They will be joined by the coach Mario Tsutsui and by the massage therapist Hans Peter Strubreiter.
"Our goal is knowing how this championship works. Mongolia has been improving a lot its high level performance in recent years, especially in the lighter weight categories, and it has been sought by some countries to train. We also want to be aware of their structure, "said Ney Wilson, the Performance Director of the Brazilian Judo Confederation.
Among the most prominent names of the Mongolian judo are Urantsetseg Munkhbat, who overcame Sarah Menezes in the world ranking leading among her extra-light counterparts; Sumiya Dorjsuren, seventh placed among the lightweight athletes; Boldbaatar Ganbat and Amartuvshin Dashdavaa, fourth and fifth placed among the extra-lightweight athletes; and Tumurkhuleg Davaadorj, the seventh positioned among the half lightweight judokas.
Eric Takabatake will be the only Brazilian representative in the extra-light category and he will have a tough task against the home athletes. But the athlete from Pinheiros expects to keep his good performance from 2014 as he reached three podiums in competitions under the International Judo Federation’s seal. He was bronze-awarded at the Pan American Open from Montevideo; he became a champion and he was considered the best athlete of the Pan American Open in Buenos Aires and, last but not least, he won the silver at the Grand Prix of Havana.
"It will be a very tough competition since there will be high-level athletes. But I hope to have another good result and so create myself more space in this category “said Takabatake, the current world number 23. The better placed Brazilian of this category is Felipe Kitadai, bronze medalist in London 2012: he is in the seventh position.
On Friday, the women’s athletes from the extra-light, half-light and light categories as well as the men’s extra-light and half-light ones will compete. On Saturday, it's the turn of the women’s half-middleweight and middleweight as well as the men's lightweight and half-middleweight. The competition ends on Sunday, when the female judokas of half heavyweight and heavyweight categories as well as the male middleweight, half heavyweight and heavyweight athletes will compete. The fights from Buyant Ukhaa Sport Complex begin at 10 am and the final block at 5pm, both local time. This will be the penultimate valid competition for ranking before the IJF World of Chelyabinsk from August.
"The team is composed of athletes who can really climb some ranking positions. Some of them traveled to this tournament and others will go to the Grand Slam of Tyumen. The purpose of this is making us define the team’s composition that is going to the World Cup from Russia, " Ney Wilson said.
The GS Tyumen is going to be held on July 12th and 13th. On 20th, the women's teams from Brazil and Cuba are competing against each other in the International Challenge from Victoria.
