Judo secures bronze medal for Pará at the Caixa Youth Games
Athlete Ravi Botega, 15 years old, secured the medal in the under 55 kg category after winning the match against the representative from the State of Maranhão
On this Sunday (21), Pará returned to the podium of the Caixa Youth Games. Athlete Ravi Botega, 15 years old, secured the bronze medal in the under 55 kg judo category after winning the match against the representative from Maranhão.
Before the award ceremony, the athletes participated in a chat with the ambassador of the Games, volleyball player Bruninho Rezende, an Olympic medalist, who shared his journey in sports and left a message of encouragement to the youth.
Pará is being represented in this third and final block – which started this Sunday (21) – in the modalities of badminton, taekwondo, judo, volleyball, and handball. The competition continues until the 25th of this month.
Athlete Ravi Botega highlighted the achievement. “I am taking this medal for my State, for my family, and my gym, which always helps me a lot and cheered for me today. I can only thank for having achieved this medal. I trained a lot. I expected it because I trained every day, several times a day, and I think every training was worth it,” said the judoka.
The State Secretary of Sports and Leisure, Cássio Andrade, emphasized the importance of the result for judo and for sports in Pará: “This achievement by Ravi shows that Pará is revealing talents and has the potential to grow even more on the national scene. Each medal is the result of a lot of effort, but also of the support that the State government, through Seel, has given to sports. This fills us with pride and motivates us to continue investing so that more young people can achieve their dreams,” he stated.
Coach Pedro Garcia highlighted the level of difficulty of the competition. “We have to understand that this competition is one of the strongest in the category. We brought a team of 15 athletes and today the lighter categories participated. We had three athletes competing for medals and we won one. I think it’s very significant to leave here, on the first day of competition, with a podium. Tomorrow there will be more matches, and I believe that judo will still seek positive results for our State,” said the coach.
So far, Pará has won seven medals:
• Women's futsal: gold in the 3rd division, with access to the 2nd division;
• Women's basketball: bronze;
• Cycling: bronze in the women's speed event;
• Wrestling: silver in individual Greco-Roman wrestling;
• Wrestling: two bronzes in teams (Greco-Roman and freestyle);
• Judo: bronze in the under 55 kg category, with Ravi Botega.
In the overall medal table, Pará is in 22nd place.
