Judo: Guilherme Schmidt wins Grand Slam gold. Budapest

Guilherme Schmidt from Brasilia won the gold medal in the under 81 kg category of the Judo Grand Slam in Budapest (Hungary) this Saturday (9). The competition, which kicked off on Friday (8), marks the start of Olympic Ranking point counting, which will determine the points ranked for the Games in Paris (France) in 2024.

In the final, Guilherme beat Saeid Mollaei, who represents Azerbaijan, 2018 world champion for Iran (the country where he was born) and Olympic vice-champion last year in Tokyo (Japan), for Mongolia. Mollaei exceeded the limit of three shidos (punishments) during the fight. The 21-year-old from Brasilia beat four other rivals on the way to the decision, including Turkey’s Vedat Albayrak, number three in the International Judo Federation (IJF) rankings.

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 medal, the Brazilian adds a thousand points to the standings and must move from sixth to fourth place in the category.

In addition to the Brasiliense, Rafaela Silva was also on the podium in Budapest. The Rio 2016 Olympic champion reached the final in the under 57kg category on Friday, but was won by Japan’s Haruka Funakubo, also collecting three shidos.

Despite the loss, Rafaela will add 700 points to the standings and regain a spot in the top ten in the category in the next update. She currently appears in 11th position. Recall that the Brazilian received a two-year suspension for doping and only returned to action in April.

Brazil participates with 21 judokas in the Budapest Grand Slam. Fourteen have already been on the mat, but only Rafaela, Guilherme and Ketleyn Quadros (who was overtaken by Venezuelan Anriquelis Barrios in the battle for bronze on Saturday) have fought for the medals. The remaining seven athletes will compete this Sunday (10) at 6am (Brasilia time). The event can be followed by placer IJF officer†