Leonardo Leite won the silver medal at the Senior Pan American Judo Championships, which are being held in Montreal, Canada.

A top athlete for CRFlamengo and reserve in the light heavyweight category (-100kg) of the Brazilian team that will participate in the Rio-2007 Pan American Games, Leonardo reached the final after defeating Diego Ochoa (ESA) by ippon, 39 seconds into the fight.

The Brazilian then faced American Adler Volmar, which led him to a gold medal match against Oreidis Despagner (CUB), the current Pan American champion in the light heavyweight division. Third place went to Keith Morgan (CAN) and Teofilo Diek (DOM).

In addition to being a preparatory event for the Rio 2007 Pan American Games, the Senior Pan American Judo Championships are also considered a qualifying ranking for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. To date, Brazil has won three gold medals and two silver medals.

The competition runs until May 26th with the following schedule:

Day 25:\ Female: -57kg, -52kg, -48kg, -44kg, Absolute\ Male: -73kg, -66kg, -60kg, -55kg, Absolute\

Day 26\ Kata and Team Competition\