Brazil had a gala debut this Friday (31) at the Grand Slam of Judo in Antalya (Turkey), the last one before the Worlds, the main competition of the modality after the Olympics. Number 3 in the world, Rafaela Silva from Rio de Janeiro won the gold medal, her first this season, by beating Canadian Christa Deguchi (number 2), in the 57-kilogram final. The women’s 57 kg category had a Brazilian double with Jéssica Lima, who took bronze. The country’s third podium in the event was guaranteed by William Lima, with another bronze in the 66 kg. The Judo World Cup will take place from May 7th to 13th, in Doha (Qatar). The moment when Rafaela Silva beat Christa Deguchi, number 2 in the world, with this wazari and won gold at the Antalya Grand Slam! 🇧🇷🥇🥋pic.twitter.com/KA54MntUsc — Olympic Games (@JogosOlimpicos) March 31, 2023 The Brazilian delegation has 20 athletes – 10 men and 10 women – at the Grand Slam of Antalya, stage of the world judo circuit, which runs until Sunday (April 2), with live transmission on the website of the Canal Olímpico do Brasil (check the schedule at the end of the text). In addition to winning gold – and another thousand points in the world ranking, decisive in the race for a place in Paris 2024 – Rafaela Silva also celebrated her first triumph over Deguchi, with the right to a wazari three seconds from the end of the fight. In the three previous opportunities where they were face to face, the Canadian got the better of the Brazilian, Olympic champion (2016) and two-time world champion (2013 and 2022). “I am very happy with the result, I came with the objective of having a good competition in the last Grand Slam before the World Championship and [ganhei] a present for my mother, who had her birthday yesterday”, said the medalist, who started the year by winning a silver medal at the Portuguese Grand Prix. ANOTHER BRONZE!!!!!! 🥉🇺🇸Jéssica Lima (57kg) beats Seija Ballhaus 🇩🇪 by waza-ari and wins the bronze medal at the Antalya Grand Slam! Well deserved!! He fought absurdly!✅ Perisic 🇷🇸✅ Bozkurt 🇹🇷✅ Monteiro 🇵🇹❌ Deguchi 🇨🇦✅ Ballhaus 🇩🇪#JudoAntalya pic.twitter.com/vmdHZVHeWv — CBJ (@JudoCBJ) March 31, 2023 This Thursday (31) was also special for Jéssica Lima who was left over against the German Seija Ballhaus in the fight for bronze in the 57 kg. The Brazilian started off with a wazari on her opponent in the first minute, but suffered two penalties. Even so, she finished ahead and secured third place on the podium. In the men’s dispute in the up to 66 kg category, William Lima overcame Kazakh Gusman Kyrgyzbayev, who was disqualified after being punished three times (shido). After winning bronze in the golden score, William honored his wife’s pregnancy, making the gesture of cradling babies with his arms. IT’S BROOOOOOOOOOOOONZE! 🥉🥋🇺🇸It’s by Willian Lima (66kg), at the Antalya Grand Slam 🇹🇷Our judoka beat Kyrgysbayev 🇰🇿 in the golden score by shido! 1st BRASA medal in the competition! ✅ pic.twitter.com/p1iPg9jOX3 — Time Brasil (@timebrasil) March 31, 2023 Race for vacancy in Paris 2024 Judo is the modality that most often secured Olympic medals in the history of Brazil in the Olympics; there were a total of 23 podiums. The country is looking for places in each of the 14 individual categories, in addition to the team tournament. The best possible position in the world ranking serves as a reference for the distribution of vacancies for Paris 2024 by the International Judo Federation (IJF). The Grand Slam of Judo in Antalya is one of the 18 stages of the world judo circuit. In the search for an Olympic vacancy in Paris 2024 – 186 for male judokas and another 186 for women – the points won between July 2022 and June 2024 are counted. (63kg), Gabriella Mantena (63kg), Ellen Froner (70kg), Aléxia Castilhos (70kg), Eduardo Yudy (81kg) Sunday (2): Preliminaries: 2hFinals: 11hAthletes: Beatriz Souza (+78kg), Rafael Macedo (90kg) , Giovani Ferreira (90kg), Leonardo Gonçalves (100kg), Rafael Buzacarini (100kg), Rafael Silva (+100kg) and João Cesarino (+100kg).
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©