A great debut! Sarah Menezes wins gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Judo Championship
Judoka participated in his first tournament defending the colors of Flamengo
By Flamengo Communication - in
The first day of competition in the third stage of the Rio de Janeiro Judo Championship was Flamengo's debut. Judoka Sarah Menezes donned the Mais Querido gi for the first time and won the gold medal, defeating her opponents by ippon and wazari. The tournament is being held at the Arena da Juventude in Deodoro.
Sarah demonstrated her high level of performance throughout the competition and faced no major challenges in taking gold in the under-48 kg category. After the matches, the judoka spoke about the club's first tournament.
"I'm very happy. For the first time, I fought in Rio defending Flamengo and this year I had the opportunity to come and live here and fight for the club. I feel honored and welcomed by everyone. I'm happy to defend Flamengo's flag, I had a good competition and I'm also happy with the whole team."
Before the competition, Sarah spent nine days in Japan, participating in international field training at the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo. The campus is considered the birthplace of judo, and the athlete spoke about the experience.
"I was training with the National Team and it was extremely important for me, as it had been a long time since I had touched the kimono of the foreigners in my category. It was an opportunity I had to train there."
Daniele Karla Lima de Oliveira also fought this Saturday morning (23), winning the silver medal in the up to 63kg category.
The Rio de Janeiro Judo Championship will continue this Sunday (24), starting at 8 am, at the Arena da Juventude, in Deodoro. The Most Beloved will have more athletes on the mat and the expectation is for another day of good results.
The judo teams of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo rely on resources from their sponsors – Estácio, AmBev, Rede D'or, IRB Brasil RE, CSN, Brasil Plural, EY – via the Federal Incentive Law/Ministry of Sports (IR) and the State Incentive Law/State Secretariat of Sports, Leisure and Youth (Seelje) of Rio de Janeiro, in addition to support from the Brazilian Committee of Clubs (CBC) resulting from the decentralization of resources originating from the Pelé Law.