Judoka Flávio Canto, bronze medalist at the Athens Olympics in 2004, is still alive in the fight to go to the Beijing Games. Even without being in ideal physical shape and still recovering from an elbow injury that caused his elimination from the Pan American Games, he dramatically won the national selection, held this Saturday, in Uberlândia (MG).
Canto, 32 years old, had a fairly even fight in the welterweight category (up to 81 kg) with young Felipe Braga, 12 years younger. And the veteran only managed to win the “golden score” of the third fight with a pin with about two minutes to go.
By the time he got the pin, Canto looked dominated. Tired, he could no longer take the initiative in his strikes and felt pain in the wrist of his left hand. Walking towards the defeat that would take him out of Beijing, he managed to take down his opponent and immobilize him for 25 seconds.
“I was aware that it wouldn't be easy and I only won at the very end, I don't know how”, declared Canto, in an interview with the TV channel “Sportv”. “What hindered me most was the physical condition and the opponent, who fought well and set a strong pace.”
With the comeback victory - he had lost the first fight by yuko and won the second by wazari -, Canto will compete for a place in Beijing with Tiago Camilo. The qualifier will be the one with the best performance in the international tournaments that will be played in 2008.
The battle promises to be quite even, as Camilo is also a former Olympic medalist - he won silver in Sydney-2000 at just 18 years of age.
However, Camilo is currently considered one of the most talented judokas today and, this year, he was world champion at welterweight. At the Pan American Games, also in Rio de Janeiro, he competed in the middleweight category (up to 90 kg) and also won a gold medal.
This Saturday's selection defined four more names to compete in the Olympic process. They are Denílson Lourenço (up to 60 kg), Victor Penalber (up to 73 kg), Leonardo Leite (up to 100 kg) and Walter Santos (over 100 kg).
Eduardo Santos beat Hugo Pessanha in the category selection (90 kg), but both will compete for qualification for Beijing, as the starting place in the selection was vacant. In the up to 66 kg category, Leandro Cunha was the winner, but he will remain as a reserve for the team, as João Derly, world and Pan champion, had already secured his place in the 2008 Games.
In the women's category, Vânia Ishii is another Olympic veteran still with a chance of going to Beijing-08. At 34 years old, she, who competed in Sydney-2000 and Athens-2004, finished the dispute with Amanda Cavalcanti with two victories in the under-63 kg category. The fight for a place in Beijing will be against Danielli Yuri.
Sarah Menezes (up to 48 kg), Ketleyn Quadros (up to 57 kg), Maria Portela (up to 70 kg), Claudirene Cesar (up to 78 kg) and Aline Puglia (over 78 kg) also qualified to compete for a place in the Olympics. . Andressa Fernandes was the winner of the under-52 kg category, but she will be a reserve, as Érika Miranda had already guaranteed her place in Beijing due to having been runner-up in the Pan and fifth in the World Championship.
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