Rafaela Silva Wins Twice to Help Lead Brazil to Mixed Team Judo Bronze at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rafaela Silva wins twice to put Brazil on the Olympics podium at the 2024 Paris Games…

The 32-year-old Brazilian judoka, the first Brazilian woman to become a world champion in judo, won the decisive match to lead Brazil to victory against Italy (4-3) on Saturday to secure the bronze medal in the mixed team judo competition.

It’s the eighth medal that the South American country has won at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Silva defeated Veronica Toniolo in the 57KG category, giving the victory to the ‘verde-amarela’ team by.

In the process, Silva became the oldest Olympic judoka to win a medal. She also has two bronze medals from the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games.

Brazil quickly took a 2-0 lead, with matches won by Rafael Macedo against Christian Parlati in the -90 and Beatriz Souza against Asya Tavano.

Italy cut the lead with a waza-ari by Gennaro Pirelli against Leonardo Goncalves in the +90. Silva, in the -57, increased the lead to 3-1 by defeating Veronica Toniolo.

On the brink of elimination, the Europeans tied the duel at three, thanks to the victory of Manuel Lombardo against Willian Lima (-73) and Savita Russo against Ketleyn Quadros.

With a 3-3 tie, the draw to decide which category would dispute the last match established that it would be in the -57 category, Silva against Toniolo.

The Italian, who was injured from her previous match, conceded in just 14 seconds by a waza-ari.

Beatriz Souza Wins Women’s Judo +78kg Event to Give Brazil Its First Gold of 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Everything’s coming up golden for Beatriz Souza.

The 26-year-old Brazilian judoka captured gold in women’s judo +78kg at the 2024 Paris Games by a final score of 1-0, defeating Israel’s Raz Hershko, who took home silver.

Souza gave a technical, intelligent, professional performance, one worthy of a position on top of the world.

In the final, Souza was faster to the attack than Hershko and she registered a waza-ari from a well-timed o-soto-gari. Hershko came back with a seoi-otoshi, which was close to scoring but didn’t have enough drive to meet the criteria.

Both continued to look for scores but that first o-soto was enough to carry Souza to the Olympic gold.

She was overcome with emotion, as was her coach, an Olympic champion herself, Sarah Menezes.

Souza’s victory secured the first gold medal of the 2024 Summer Olympics for the Brazil delegation.

Prior to the Paris Olympics, Souza won bronze in this weight class at the 2023 World Championships and the 2023 Pan American Games.

Prisca Awiti Alcaraz Earns Mexico’s Ever Olympic Medal in Judo with 2024 Paris Games Performance

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Prisca Awiti Alcaraz has earned Mexico’s first-ever Olympic medal in judo…

The 28-year-old Mexican judoka claimed the silver medal in the women’s 63kg judo competition after losing to Slovenia’s Andreja Leski in the finals at the 2024 Paris Games.

Awiti Alcaraz, an outsider in the main draw who has competed internationally with Mexico since 2017, was defeated by an Ippon, although she had already achieved a Waza-Ari, in one minute and 44 seconds of combat.

Awiti Alcaraz, who was born and raised in London, began representing Mexico since 2017 because her mother is Mexican.

The judoka, whose father is of Kenyan origin, will face Andreja Leski in the Final on the tatami of the Campo de Marte.

Awiti Alcaraz is competing in her second Olympics after the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Awiti, who was thisclose to leaving judo after two serious injuries, has demonstrated to herself and the world why it was all worth the effort to stay in the sport with her historic Olympic medal.

Brazil’s Willian Lima Earns Silver Medal in Men’s 66kg Judo Event at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Willian Lima has claimed his first Olympic medal…

The 24-year-old Brazilian judoka lost to Japan’s Hifumi Abe in the final of the Men’s 66kg judo competition inside the Champ-de-Mars Arena at the 2024 Paris Games, settling for the silver medal.

It’s Brazil’s first silver medal of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

It was Abe’s second straight gold medal in the 66kg judo category at the Olympics.

Lima became a two-time champion at the Pan American-Oceania Judo Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, after obtaining the gold medal in 2024.

The bronze medals went to Gusman Kyrgyzbayev of Kazakhstan and Denis Vieru of Moldova.

Cris Cyborg to Make Professional Boxing Debut Against Simone de Silva

Posted on August 10, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Cris Cyborg is switching sports…

The 37-year-old mixed martial artist’s next fight won’t be inside an MMA cage — it’ll be in a boxing ring against Simone de Silva.

Cyborg, one of the best women’s MMA fighters of all time, said on her “The Catchup” YouTube show Monday that was finalizing a contract for her professional boxing debut.

By Wednesday, that was done.

Cyborg shared on Instagram that she would be fighting de Silva at 154 pounds in the main event of a card on Sept. 25 in Cyborg’s hometown of Curitiba, Brazil.

“It’s one of my dreams,” the 37-year-old Cyborg, currently the Bellator women’s featherweight champion, said of boxing.

The fight will be an eight-round boxing match with two-minute rounds and contested with 8-ounce gloves.

Cyborg is currently a restricted free agent in an exclusive negotiating period with Bellator, and sources said Bellator president Scott Coker has given his support for this boxing match.

PFL had made public overtures about putting together a fight between Cyborg and the two-time Olympic judo gold medalist, with the implication that PFL could potentially sign Cyborg as a free agent.

Cyborg said she has not spoken with PFL at all at this point.

“No, we never have any talks with PFL,” Cyborg said. “We never talked about this fight. I know there’s a lot of talk on the internet about making this fight happens in different ways, but we’ve never had the talk about anything.”

Cyborg did not say she is disinterested in the Harrison matchup, but Cyborg has always been vocal about the positives of her relationship with Coker and Bellator, which she has touted as having the best women’s featherweight division in MMA.

Cyborg said on the show that if Cyborg vs. Harrison happens while she is still with

Bellator, that would be “great.”

“I’m open to the best fights for my fans,” Cyborg said.

Cyborg (26-2, 1 NC), whose real name is Cristiane Justino, is a former UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion. She has four Bellator title defenses and has won six straight fights overall. Cyborg’s only loss since her pro debut in 2005 was to current UFC double champion Amanda Nunes in 2018.

Idalys Ortiz Claims Fourth Career Olympics Medal at the Tokyo Games

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a rare honor for Idalys Ortiz…

The 31-year-old Cuban judoka may have lost her gold medal match against Japan’s Akira Sone in the women’s judo +78 kg category at the 2020 Tokyo Games, but she’s still managed to make some history.

In claiming the silver at this Summer Olympics, Ortiz became the fourth women to earn at least four medals in judo, having also won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, gold at the 2012 London Games and silver at 2016 Rio Games.

Ryoko Tani owns the record for the most with five.

Sone won the match via ippon in the Golden Score period after Oritz was charged with her third penalty of the encounter at the 8:52 mark of the match.

“Akira Sone is a great athlete,” Ortiz said. “She is very young, she is very talented, and we knew beforehand if she ended up being my opponent she would be very difficult to beat.”

The bronze medals went to France’s Romane Dicko and Iryna Kindzerska, of Azerbaijan, who is the first woman from her country to earn an Olympic medal in judo.

Brazil’s Mayra Aguiar Claims Third Consecutive Olympic Bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games

Posted on July 29, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a threepeat of sorts for Mayra Aguiar…

The 29-year-old Brazilian judoka earned her third consecutive Olympic bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Aguiar defeated South Korea’s Yoon Hyun-ji in the Women’s 78kg in the Bronze Medal B match.

Considered one of the most talented Brazilian judokas in history, Aguiar is competing in her fourth Summer Olympics.

She lost her only match at the 2008 Beijing Games, but then claimed the bronze medal at the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games.

Daniel Cargnin Claims Judo Bronze at Tokyo Games

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Daniel Cargnin has bounced back to claim some Olympic hardware…

After losing to Japan’s Hifumi Abe in the semifinals, the Brazilian judoka returned to the mat to win his bronze medal match against Israel’s Baruch Shmailov in the 66kg category at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The fight was very tense, with Cargnin needing to be seen by doctors after suffering a cut after an opponent’s entry. But he managed to confirm the medal with a wasari

It’s the second medal for Brazil at the Olympics, following Kelvin Hoefler silver in the street category of skateboarding.

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