The half-middleweight Victor Penalber Wins Bronze at Astana 2015 World Judo Championship
The medal was the second one won by Brazil in Kazakhstan and the country’s 40th one in World Senior Championships. There will be three more judokas competing on Friday.
Brazil reached again the podium at Astana 2015 World Championships. This competition will last until next Sunday, August 30th, in the capital of Kazakhstan. On Thursday it was the turn of the half-middleweight Victor Penalber to win the contention for bronze against the Georgian Avtandili Tchkirishvili, world champion in 2014, and ensure the country’s second medal won in this competition - the half-lightweight Erika Miranda was also placed third in her category. Penalber’s achievement represented Brazil’s 40th podium in World Senior Championships. An important milestone for the Reação Institute from Rio de Janeiro.
"I'm very happy because it's my first medal. Representing my country at a World Championship is something very special. It's not a Grand Slam, it's not a Grand Prix, but a championship targeted by everyone each year. So it's a totally different feeling when bringing home a medal from world championships," Victor said.
Penalber fought in the third edition of the calendar’s most important judo championship after the Olympics. And the results show the judoka’s evolution: he was ninth placed in Rio in 2013, seventh in Chelyabinsk in 2014 and third this year in Astana.
"It was a self-overcoming proof not only because of this competition but considering the last World Championships. In the first one, I went out in the third round. Last year, I lost in repechage. And this year I got a medal. So I'm very happy to be able to improve every year a little bit. This has to be our goal "he said.
In order to get to podium, Penalber won four of his six fights by ippon. Three of them were against the following opponents: Sergio Toma from UAE; Marlon Acacio from Mozambique; Yakhyo Imamov from Uzbekistan, in the first three rounds. In the quarterfinals, he was defeated by the French Loic Pietri, world champion in 2013, by two yukos. In repechage, he managed to perform another ippon against Valeriu Duminică from Moldova. And in the fight for the third place, he dominated his opponent, the Georgian Avtandili Tchkirishvili, world champion in 2014, because he had two penalties less. Penalber faced a real test concentration, given the fact that the fight was only 20 minutes after the repechage.
"I just thought that I was going to put in a lot of force and that it would be a tough fight. I had been studying some opponents and the current world champion was one of the names on the list. I could apply the strategy I was thinking on and so I managed to control the fight and get that medal, “Victor said.
In the same category, Leandro Guilheiro had also a good performance, winning two fights. He defeated the Greek Roman Moustopoulos after the opponent was penalized four times; and the Polish Jakub Kubieniec by yuko. In the second round, he was eventually stopped by the Southern Korean Lee Seungsu because he got punished four times. Mariana Silva also fought on Thursday. She was defeated in the beginning by the Chinese Jiunxia Yang after being immobilized by ippon.
There will be three more Brazilian judokas competing on Friday, August 28th: the middleweight Maria Portela (70kg) and Tiago Camilo (90kg) and the light-heavyweight Mayra Aguiar (78kg). The world champion from 2007 has a quarry on his debut, the Russian Kirill Denisov, bronze winner at Chelyabinsk 2014 World Championship. Portela will be first fighting against the Australian Aoife Coughlan. And Mayra, current world champion and head-key number 8, starts the path towards her 9th medal in world individual championships fighting against the Chilean Jacqueline Usnayo.
The qualifiers will be played from 2 am, Brasília time zone. The repechage, semifinals and fights for medals will be held from 8 am, Brasília time zone. The World Championship from Astana is broadcast by SporTV, Esporte Interativo, ESPN and BandSports.
