Olympic medalists Tiago Camilo and Leandro Guilheiro won two bronze medals for Brazil yesterday at the Super World Cup in Hamburg, Germany. Tiago, world champion and silver medalist at the Sydney 2000 games, beat Russian Ivan Nifontov by yuko in the fight for third place in the welterweight category (-81kg). Leandro Guilheiro, bronze in Athens 2004, reached the podium with a victory in the lightweight category (-73kg) over Canadian Nick Tritton by koka.
The results in the European Circuit will be used by the Brazilian Judo Confederation to identify the athletes who represent the country in the categories classified for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Today, Edinanci Silva (-78kg), Priscila Marques (+78kg, Leonardo Leite (- 100kg) and Walter Santos (+100kg).
“I haven't performed everything I can yet, but I also know that the time to be in the best shape is not now. I'm satisfied with the result because I managed to show great reaction power. Before, I was really upset when I lost in a semi-final and had no chance of fighting for gold, but this time I had the strength and I'm happy with my result. My category is always very balanced and I expected to have tough competitions”, says Tiago Camilo.
To win the bronze medal, Leandro Guilheiro had seven fights. In the first round he beat Russian Denis Mukhin by ippon. In the next fight, another ippon over the Slovenian Saso Jereb. In the third fight, Leandro Guilheiro was defeated by Rasul Bokiev, from Tajikistan, in an ippon. In the repechage, the Brazilian debuted against the Greek Aris Kotanidis and won another victory by ippon. In the second repechage match, he beat Belarusian Aliaksandr Stsiashenka with another ippon. In the repechage decision, he beat Swiss David Papaux by ippon. In the bronze decision, victory by koka over Canadian Nick Tritton.
Tiago Camilo competed five times. Camilo kicked off his Hamburg Super World Cup campaign with an ippon victory over Englishman Thomas Davis. With another ippon, Tiago passed Victor Bivol, from Moldova. In the group decision he defeated German Nick Hein with an ippon. In the semi-final, he was beaten with a koka by Korean Jae-Bum Kim. In the bronze dispute, a yuko on the Russian Ivan Nifontov.
After the Super World Cup in Hamburg, Brazil will compete on the 1st and 2nd of March in the World Cup in Prague (men) and Warsaw (women).
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