(Photo: Tamara Kulumbegashvili/IJF)
Brazilian judo started its participation in the Grand Slam in Astana, Kazakhstan very well. Larissa Pimenta (52kg) and Rafaela Silva (57kg) won silver medals on the first day of the competition, this Friday (10). After good campaigns in the preliminaries, Rafa lost to Canadian Christa Deguchi, leader of the world rankings, while Lari fell to Israeli Gefen Primo in the decision. Natasha Ferreira (48kg) and Michel Augusto (60kg) still came in seventh place on the same day.
Seventh in the world rankings, Rafaela Silva was seeded number three in Astana. She won three fights in the preliminaries, passing Azeri Fidan Alizada (three shido), Croatian Tihea Topolovec (two waza-aris) and Uzbek Shukurjon Aminova (ippon). In the semifinal, the Brazilian overcame Frenchwoman Sarah-Léonie Cysique, current Olympic runner-up, with a waza-ari on the golden score.
In the final, Rafa once again faced Canadian Christa Deguchi, leader of the world rankings, in a reissue of the decision of the Pan-American and Oceania Championships, which occurred two weeks ago. Unlike what happened in Rio de Janeiro, the Canadian came out victorious. The two judokas were left hanging with two shido each before half way through the fight and then the Brazilian took yet another punishment and ended up defeated, taking the silver medal.
This was Rafaela Silva’s 18th medal in a Grand Slam. Now, the Olympic champion has two golds, five silvers and 11 bronzes. With the campaign in Astana, she gained 700 points in the Olympic ranking and rose to third place in the classification. At this moment, the 32-year-old from Rio would be the second seed in the Olympic tournament in Paris-2024, behind only Christa Deguchi or fellow Canadian Jessica Klimkait.
Larissa Pimenta takes silver
Larissa Pimenta, tenth in the world rankings in the under-52kg category, reached the final by beating the Russian Alesia Kuznetsova, the Portuguese Maria Siderot and the Spanish Ayumi Sanchez by forcing three shido on her opponents. In the decision, she faced an old acquaintance: Israeli Gefen Primo, number one seed in the tournament. The Brazilian even started better, but suffered a waza-ari and was then pinned, being defeated.
Pimenta won his second silver medal in a Grand Slam. The first had been in Brasília, in October 2019. Therefore, this was the first time that the Brazilian reached the final of a competition of this level after almost five years. Lari will climb to ninth place in the Olympic rankings with the campaign in Astana. She remains in the fight for a place to be seeded in Paris-2024 (only the top eight in the ranking are seeded).
Natasha and Michel fall into the quarterfinals
The Brazilian lightweights also went far on the first day of the Grand Slam in Astana. Increasingly consolidated in the Olympic classification zone, Michel Augusto (60kg) made his direct debut in the round of 16 and beat the American David Terao (shidôs). Afterwards, he fell in the quarterfinals against Azeri Ahamad Yusifov, by waza-ari, and lost in the repechage to Italian Andrea Carlino, also by waza-ari. Thus, he came in seventh place.
Natasha Ferreira, who is still fighting to enter the Olympic qualification zone in the under-48kg category, beat Uzbek Khalimajon Kurbonova (shidôs) and Colombian Erika Lasso (waza-ari) before falling to Azerbaijani Leyla Aliyeva (shidôs) in the quarterfinals at the end. In the repechage, she lost to Spanish Gemma Maria Gomez, by waza-ari, and also finished in seventh place.
Still in the men’s under-60kg category, Matheus Takaki beat Italian Angelo Pantano (waza-ari) in the first round, but fell to Russian Ramazan Abdulaev (ippon) in the round of 16. Finally, also in the women’s under-48kg category, Amanda Lima debuted in the 16th round and lost to Russian Kristina Dudina, by waza-ari, distancing herself from an Olympic berth for Paris.
More Brazil
Brazil will have the participation of four athletes this Saturday (11), on the second day of the Astana Judo Grand Slam. It will be Ketleyn Quadros (63kg), Nauana Silva (63kg), Ellen Froner (70kg) and Luana Carvalho (70kg), in categories that do not yet have an Olympic place guaranteed. Finally, on Sunday (12), it will be the turn of Marcelo Gomes (90kg), Rafael Macedo (90kg) and Giovanna Santos (+78kg) to take action.
22 years old from São Paulo. Journalist graduated from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). I’ve been at Olimpíada Todo Dia since 2022. I covered the World University Games in Chengdu and the Pan-American Games in Santiago-2023.
