Rafaela Silva is silver in the Grand Prix of Judo in Portugal; check the results
At the opening of the first international competition of judo in 2023, Brazil has already won its first medal. Rafaela Silva, Olympic champion in 2016, won the silver medal in the -57kg category among women at the Grand Prix of Judo in Almada, Portugal. The competition started on Friday, January 27th and ended on Sunday, January 29th.
The Brazilian judoka advanced to the final of the competition, but lost to Huh Mimi, from the Republic of Korea, in the final. After drawing in the normal period, the Korean got an ippon in overtime to win the first title of the year.
In addition to Rafaela Silva, two other Brazilian judokas came close to the medal dispute. Eric Takabatake (men’s -66kg) and Jessica Pereira (women’s -57kg) reached the repechage, but were defeated in the first fight and ended up in seventh place in their categories.
The Grand Prix de Judo dispute in Portugal is the first international competition of the sport in 2023. The event counts points for the ranking, which will determine the list of classifieds for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Brazil suffered a defeat of 25 athletes and, in addition to Rafaela Silva, it also has Olympic medalists Keleyn Quadros (bronze in beijing 2008) and rafael silva (bronze in London 2012 and Rio 2016), in addition to young athletes chosen after the national selection, in November 2022.
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Portuguese Catarina Costa loses medal match
Host country of the first international judo competition of 2023, Portugal did not win medals at the opening of the Almada Grand Prix. Catarina Costachampion of the tournament in 2022, had the best Portuguese performance by finishing in fifth position in the women’s -48 kg category.
The athlete won her bracket and advanced to the semifinals, but suffered an ippon from Kazakh Galiya Tynbayeva in the seventh minute of overtime. In the dispute for the bronze, Catarina Costa took on the Spanish Mireia Lapuerta Comas and suffered a waza-ari 19 seconds from the end of the fight.
He presented himself to the country with 39 athletes in the Grand Prix of Judo in Portugal. This Saturday, January 28th, Portuguese judokas will try for their first medals, with emphasis on Barbara Timo in the women’s -63kg category and Anri Egutidze no -81kg male.
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Check the schedule of the second day of the Judo Grand Prix in Portugal
In all, there will be five more categories on Saturday, January 28: -73kg, -81kg and -90kg for men and -63kg and -70kg for women. The time follows the local zone in Portugal (three hours more than in Brazil). The finals will be broadcast Brazilian Olympic Channel.
10:00 am – Preliminaries
17:00 – End