This Thursday, Brazilian judo got off to a good start in the Grand Slam dispute in Tel Aviv, Israel. Three judokas reached the medal disputes and two of them – Natasha Ferreira and Larissa Pimenta – managed to win bronze in their categories. Already the Olympic and world champion Rafaela Silva was in the almost and finished in fifth place.

The first medal went to Natasha Ferreira in the 48 kg category. She entered the Grand Slam at world number 52 and had to face higher ranked opponents. The Italian Francesca Milani, fourth in the standings, and the Spaniard Laura Abelenda, 14th, won to reach the semi-finals. There she was beaten by Israeli Tamar Malca and won bronze over Cuban American Maria Celia Laborde.

At 23, Natasha Ferreira, who represents the club Sociedade Morgenau, from Paraná, won her first medal in the adult World Tour and put Brazil back on the podium in the Light category. The country’s last Grand Slam medal at this weight dates back to 2019, with the silver of Gabriela Chibana, in Brasilia.

“It’s my first Grand Slam medal, so it’s very important and I’m very happy. I spent 28 days here in Europe training, so it’s really good to end this period with a medal. All the effort, the training in France made all the difference, the difference for me to win this medal”, rejoiced Natasha.

pepper is bronze

The second medal of the day came in the women’s lightweight category (52 kg), with Larissa Pimenta. She made her debut with a victory over Israeli Paz Kafri, but lost in the quarter-finals to Italian Odette Giuffryda. In the repechage, she overtook the Polish Aleksandra Kaleta, and in the bronze medal dispute she won the German Masha Ballhaus.

It was Larissa Pimenta’s first medal of the 2023 season. A week ago, she was fifth at the Grand Slam in Paris, France, missing out on bronze. “I had wanted to win this medal for a while. We are a few months away from the World Championships and it is very important for me, for my confidence, for me to continue to believe in myself”, he commented. .

The women’s lightweight division (57kg) brought together a constellation of world champions in Tel Aviv: Canadians Christa Deguchi and Jessica Klimkait, Ukrainian Daria Bilodid, Japanese Tsukasa Yoshida, current double champion Rafaela Silva and also the current world junior champion, Turkish Ozlem Yldiz.

Rafaela, who started 2023 with a silver medal at the Portuguese Grand Prix but crashed out in the round of 16 in Paris, returned to the final block in Tel Aviv. She was top of her class, beating Arleta Podolak (Poland), Anastasiia Chyzhevska (Ukraine) and Mina Libeer (Belgium). But ended up falling in the semi-finals to Klimkait and in the bronze medal fight against Israeli Timna Nelson Levy.

Brazil still had Matheus Takaki (60kg), Gabriel Genro (66kg), Maria Taba (52kg) and Jessica Pereira (57kg) on ​​the mat this Thursday in Tel Aviv. All debuted with the win, but fell in the second round.

The competition in Israel continues this Friday and Brazil will count on Ketleyn Quadros (63kg), Tamires Crude (63kg), Aléxia Castilhos (70kg), Luana Carvalho (70kg), Daniel Cargnin (73kg), Guilherme Schimidt (81kg) and Eduardo Yudy Santos (81kg).