Guilherme Schmidt from Brasilia won, this Saturday (9), the gold medal in the under-81 kg category of the Grand Slam of Judo in Budapest (Hungary). The competition, which started on Friday (8), marks the beginning of the counting of points in the Olympic ranking, which will define those classified for the Paris Games (France) in 2024.
In the final, Guilherme got the better of Saeid Mollaei, who represents Azerbaijan, was world champion for Iran (the country where he was born) in 2018 and Olympic runner-up in Tokyo (Japan), last year, for Mongolia. Mollaei exceeded the limit of three shidos (punishments) during combat. The 21-year-old from Brasilia beat four other rivals on the way to the decision, among them the Turkish Vedat Albayrak, number three in the International Judo Federation (IJF) ranking.
It was Guilherme’s second Grand Slam title in 2022. In April, he had already won the stage in Antalya (Turkey). With the new gold, the Brazilian will add a thousand points in the ranking and should rise from sixth to fourth place in the category.
In addition to the Brasiliense, Rafaela Silva was also on the podium in Budapest. On Friday, the Olympic champion at Rio 2016 reached the final of the under-57 kg category, but was won by Japanese Haruka Funakubo, also by accumulating three shidos.
Despite the defeat, Rafaela will add 700 points in the ranking and will regain a place among the top ten in the category, in the next update. She currently appears in the 11th position. It is worth remembering that the Brazilian served a two-year suspension for doping and returned to fight only in April.
Brazil participates in the Grand Slam of Budapest with 21 judokas. Fourteen have already been to the mat, but only Rafaela, Guilherme and Ketleyn Quadros (who was surpassed by Venezuela’s Anriquelis Barrios, this Saturday, in the dispute for bronze) fought for medals. The seven remaining athletes will fight this Sunday (10), starting at 6 am (Brasilia time). The event can be followed by site IJF officer.
