Three finals, three wins. Brazil ended Saturday at the top of the medal table at the World Para Judo Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, with ten podiums banked: three golds, five silvers and two bronzes. The Brazilian squad brought 24 athletes to the competition, which opened on Friday and closes on Sunday.
Maldonado settles it in golden score
The day's first gold came in the under-70 kg category of the J2 class, for athletes with low vision. Alana Maldonado, from São Paulo, needed golden score — judo's sudden-death extra time — to beat Kazakhstan's Ayala Mereke with a waza-ari.
It is the judoka's fourth world title. She is also a two-time Paralympic champion, most recently in Paris 2024. "This victory isn't only mine, it belongs to a team. I'm very happy," Maldonado said in remarks released by the Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro (Brazilian Paralympic Committee).
Arthur Silva repeats Astana
In the J1 class, for blind athletes, Arthur Silva won the under-95 kg final against Britain's Daniel Powell, also by waza-ari. Silva, from Rio Grande do Norte and the Paris 2024 Paralympic champion, confirmed back-to-back world titles after winning the 2025 edition in Astana, Kazakhstan.
"It finally arrived. It feels like a duty fulfilled," he said.
Brenda Freitas needs less than a minute
The quickest final was Brenda Freitas's, in the under-70 kg category of the J1 class. The Rio de Janeiro fighter landed an ippon on China's Wang Wenjing before the clock reached one minute, holding on to the world title she already owned.
"I'm very, very happy with this result," she said.
What else Brazil added
Beyond the three golds, Saturday produced two silvers — Milena Freitas in the over-70 kg category of the J1 class and Marcelo Casanova at under-95 kg in J2 — and two bronzes, from Rebeca Silva (over 70 kg, J2) and Felipe Amorim (over 95 kg, J2).
Ten medals in two days of competition says something about the depth of the roster: Brazil does not depend on one or two names to score in para judo, and reached the top of the table with six different athletes on the podium in Saturday's finals and bronze-medal bouts alone.
With information from Agência Brasil and the Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro.
