With the valuable help of names of the new generation, Brazilian taekwondo reached three medals at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. At just 20 years old, Maria Clara Pacheco won silver in the under 57 kg category at the end of A very balanced fight against the Canadian Skylar. Park on Sunday. Lucas Ostapiv, 25, won bronze in the under 80 kg category.

Maria Clara opened the fight by winning the first round by 5/8. In the second round, the Canadian opened 15/9, taking the match to the deciding round. Maria Clara came into the lead in the last seconds, with the score 14/15, but ended up taking a penalty and was overtaken. The result shows that the Santos player, a bronze medalist at the World Cup in May this year, is on the right track in pursuit of ever greater achievements.

“We end up pushing ourselves a little too hard to be in such a competitive, high-level environment, which is the level of the Pan American Games, so I’m frustrated that we lost the gold medal, but I’m very happy to all season. It’s something that really surprised me, I always expect my best, but I didn’t imagine it would come so quickly, with the bronze medal at the World Championships and now the silver at the Pan American Games.

Like Maria Clara, Lucas Ostapiv made his debut at the Pan American Games. He won the first fight against Jamaican Brandon Sealy 2/1. Then, in the quarterfinals, he was beaten by the American Carl Nikolas by 2/0 and, in the repechage, he secured bronze for Brazil. In the fight against David Robleto, from Nicaragua, the Brazilian opened the first round well, with 5/3, and closed the second round with 3/2, to make 2/0.

Brazilian Caroline Santos would also compete for bronze in the under 67 kg category against American Kristina Teachout, but ultimately did not compete due to left leg pain. To avoid a more serious injury, the athlete decided to reserve himself for the next competitions later this year.

This Monday 23, Gabriele Siqueira (+65kg) and Olympic medalist Maicon Andrade (+81kg) will fight in search of more medals for the country. The Brazilian Olympic Channel and Team Brasil YouTube broadcast the fights live from 2:40 p.m. (Brasilia time).