The Keys of Tashkent Grand Prix Have Been Drawn

There will be ten Brazilian athletes participating in Tashkent Grand Prix which begins this Thursday. Five of them will step the tatamis of Uzbekistan Sports Hall on the first day of competition and the other five on Friday, October 17th. The keys were drawn this Thursday morning, at the headquarters of the Judo Federation of the Asian country.

 On Thursday, Brazil will be represented in the men and the women extra-light category as well as in the women half-lightweight one. In the men extra-light category, two Brazilian fight for the first time in the eight-finals.  Diego Santos (60kg) will face the winner of the fight between  Denys Bilichenko (UKR) and Gumar Kyrgyzbayev (KAZ) whereas Allan Kuwabara fights first against the head-key number 3, Sharafuddin Lutfillaev from Uzbekistan.

In the women extra-light category, there are two clashes between Brazil and Turkey right from the beginning.  Gabriela Chibana (48kg) fights first against Sumeyye Akkus and Nathália Brigida (48kg) faces Ebru Sahin. In the half-lightweight, Eleudis Valentim (52kg) faces the Russin Anastasia Polikarpova in the beginning. If she wines, she will face the head-key number 2, the Israeli Gili Cohen.

On Friday, October 17th, Leandro Guilheiro (81kg)  fights against the home athlete, Shukhratjon Arslanov. In the women half-middleweight, Mariana Silva (63kg) fights first against  Zamzagul Faizollanova (KAZ) whereas Katherine Campos (63kg) faces the Portuguese Ana Cachola.

In the middleweight, Nádia Merli (70kg) fights first in the final-eight against the Czech Alena Eiglova. Maria Portela, head-key number 3, waits for the winner of the clash between Dilshoda Isroilova (UZB) and Megan Fletcher (GBR).

The completion will end with the fights of the 78kg, +78k, 90kg, 100kg and  +100kg categories, in which there is no Brazilian representative. The qualifiers begin at 2 am and the final block at 9 am, Brasilia time zone. The complete keys can be followed in the attached file.

Besides the bronze won by Diego Santos, Brazil has got seven more medals in Taskent 2013 Grand Prix: gold won by Ketleyn Quadros (57kg), Mariana Barros (63kg) e Bárbara Timo (70kg); silver awarded to Alex Pombo (73kg) and  Nádia Merli (70kg) whereas the bronze medals were given to Leandro Cunha (66kg) and David Moura (+100kg).