With an impressive campaign, Brazilian Mayra Aguiar, just 16 years old, achieved Brazil's best result in the 2008 season of European tournaments. Mayra, in the under 70kg category, won the gold medal this Sunday at the World Cup in Warsaw, Poland. Mayra defeated athletes of the highest level, such as Olympic and European circuit medalists.
Mayra had four fights. She debuted against Ewa Wiwatowska, from Poland, winning by ippon. In the second fight she beat the Spanish Cecilia Blanco, by ippon. Cecília Blanco won silver this year at the Paris Super World Cup and the Budapest World Cup and is second in the world rankings in the category. Then, in the semi-final, the most impressive feat. Mayra beat the Italian Ylenia Scapin by ippon, who has two Olympic bronzes on her CV, won in Atlanta-1996 and Sydney-2000, as well as three bronzes in world championships and 11 gold medals in world cups. In the decision, she beat the Chinese Dou Shumei by yuko, bronze in the Super World Cup in Hamburg, held last week.
Mayra, silver medalist at the 2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan, highlighted her evolution. “I knew that a title like this could happen in my career, but not so soon. I am really happy. I feel like I've evolved a lot since last year, especially on the tactical side. The exchanges and training in Europe helped a lot to complement the work I do daily at Sogipa”, says she, who is part of the same club as world champions João Derly and Tiago Camilo.
Also competing this Sunday were Edinanci Silva (-78kg), Priscila Marques (+78kg), Tiago Camilo (-81kg), Eduardo Santos (-90kg) and Walter Santos (+100kg). The men's team competed at the World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic. Highlights include Edinanci Silva, who finished in fifth place and Eduardo Santos, who was seventh.
The World Cups in Prague and Warsaw ended Brazil's tournament phase in Europe. In addition to Mayra's gold, Tiago Camilo and Leandro Guilheiro won bronze at the Hamburg Super World Cup and Sarah Menezes bronze at the Budapest World Cup.
According to the criteria established by the Brazilian Judo Confederation, the athlete who has the best performance in European tournaments will be the starter in Beijing, in order to favor the one who is most internationally competitive and who, in this way, is best able to bring better results in the Olympics. This mixed selection system (national selection and evaluation of international results) has been adopted by the CBJ since 2006, for men, and since 2007, for women. The names of the 14 starters for the Olympic Games will be announced before the team leaves for training in Japan, on March 21st.
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