Brazilian judo continues to make history at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. This Sunday (29), second day of individual competition, the country climbed four more times on the podium and isolated itself in the general medal table of this sport. Gabriel Falcão (73 kg) and Guilherme Schimidt (81 kg) won gold, Daniel Cargnin (73 kg) won silver and Ketleyn Quadros (63 kg) won one of the bronze medals in the women’s division welterweights.

Double at 73kg

The two Brazilian representatives in the 73 kg category performed well in the preliminaries and reached the grand final of the category.

Daniel Cargnin made his debut by beating Argentinian Matteo Etchechury by ippon in the round of 16, and in the next round sent Canadian Antoine Bouchard to the repechage with a waza-ari. In the semi-final he defeated Colombian Andrés Sandoval also by waza-ari and won his second medal at the Pan American Games.

At the end of the fight, however, the Olympic medalist felt pain in his left ankle and, after medical evaluation, he was unable to fight in the final and ended up with the silver medal.

“I’m very happy, in general. The important thing is that Brazil achieved a double in the final. We know that judo has a huge responsibility in the medal rankings and I believe we are doing our part. Tomorrow, we will close this individual competition in style,” declared Cargnin.

On the other side of the draw, Gabriel Falcão opened with a fusen-gachi (WO) victory, with American Jack Yonezuka not showing up for the fight. In the quarterfinals he beat Mexican Gilberto Cardoso by waza-ari, and in the semifinals he beat Dominican Antonio Tornal on penalties.

Falcão was a gold medalist at the Junior Pan in Cali, in 2021, and achieved the double gold, this time at the Senior Pan, in Santiago. The medal also had a special flavor, since it was the 100th won by Brazil at the 2023 Pan American Games.

“I trained hard to get this Pan American title. I am very happy to have achieved it and now it is time to focus on the next goals. I am still in the junior class and this is a sign that a lot of work is paying off,” celebrated Falcão.

Schmidt dominates on the field and wins gold

The second gold medal of the day went to Guilherme Schmidt (81 kg), who showed his strength on the ground in each of his bouts. He made his debut directly in the quarterfinals and beat Canadian David Popovic by immobilization. In the semifinals, he managed to secure the choke and forced Dominican Medickson Del Orbe to tap out.

The gold decision went against the Chilean Jorge Perez, owner of the house. But, despite the pressure from the fans, Schmidt managed a waza-ari in the first minutes of the fight and, shortly after, ensured the immobilization until the ippon.

“I was very happy with this achievement. He was an opponent I had already beaten on another occasion and, some time ago, he had even trained with me in Minas. I think he felt my fighting rhythm a lot and I got this victory. This crowd motivated me even more to bring this medal to Brazil,” Schmidt said.

Ketleyn Quadros wins bronze in Pan Games debut

Among the women, the first medal of the day went to Ketleyn Quadros (63kg). She made her debut in the quarterfinals and beat American Sara Golden on penalties. In the semifinals, she failed to get past Canada’s Isabelle Harris’ two waza-aris and headed to the bronze medal, where she beat Colombia’s Cindy Mera with a waza-ari.

“For me, this medal is super special. Even though I already had a lot of experience in this sport, this was my first Pan Games. Unlike other editions, each athlete had to qualify in their category and it was super exhausting. Arriving here and winning a medal is a positive response to all the work accomplished,” he commented.

Ketleyn made Brazilian sports history when she became the first female Olympic medalist in individual sports in Beijing in 2008. Now, 15 years later, she made her Pan American Games debut and won her first medal.

Aléxia Castilhos and Luana Carvalho are fifth

Brazil still had two representatives this Sunday, both in the women’s middleweight (70 kg).

Luana Carvalho made her debut in the round of 16 with an ippon (immobilization) victory over American Yasmin Alamin. In the quarterfinals, Ecuador’s Celinda Corozo beat her with a waza-ari, but ended up suffering an ippon and had to go to the repechage, where she beat Argentina’s Victoria Delvecchio with an ipponzaço.

The fight for bronze went against Venezuelan Elvismar Rodriguez, who managed to land an armbar that allowed Luana to retire and take fifth place.

Aléxia Castilhos defeated Mexican Katia Castillo with two waza-ari in her debut and, in the quarterfinals, defeated Elvismar Rodriguez (VEN) by armbar. In the repechage, she defeated Colombian Luisa Bonilla by ippon and advanced to the bronze medal match. The decision continued until the four-minute golden score, where Ecuador’s Celinda Corozo earned an ippon.

Judo at Pan continues this Monday (30), with seven other Brazilians in search of medals: Rafael Macedo (90kg), Kayo Santos (100kg), Leonardo Gonçalves (100kg), Rafael Silva “Baby” (+100kg), Eliza Ramos (78kg), Samanta Soares (78kg) and Beatriz Souza (+78kg).

The preliminaries start at 10 a.m. (Brasilia time) and the finals at 3 p.m.

Live broadcast: Canal Olímpico do Brasil and Cazé TV.