Brussig judo twins aim for gold at Paralympic Games

Carmen and Ramona Brussig will both defend their Paralympic titles on the opening day of the Rio 2016 judo competition. The Brussig sisters are identical twins with an identical objective ahead of the opening day of the Rio 2016 judo competition, which gets underway. The pair are hoping to repeat their achievements from London 2012, where both won gold in quick succession and both are again in the semi finals.

Triple world champion Carmen, who is 15 minutes older than her sister, will be the first of the twins on the tatami when she competes in the up to 48kg event.

Her main challenger is likely to be Chinese Taipei’s Kai Lin Lee. Lee was beaten by Brussig in the gold medal matches at both London 2012 and the 2015 World Championships in Seoul, Korea, and will be determined avoid another defeat at the hands of Germany’s World No.1.

 “I feel excited, but the pressure is going up,” Carmen said ahead of competing, saying that the twins would be satisfied with any place on the podium.

 “It doesn’t matter which medal. We can’t expect a particular colour. Even if it’s bronze, that will be a success.”

Younger twin and four-time world champion Ramona Brussig faces strong opposition from the start in the up to 52kg competition.

Brussig’s first fight was Brazil’s current Parapan American title holder Michele Ferreira, who couldn’t convince her home crowd and lost against Brussig by wazari. Ramona also identified France’s Sandrine Martinet and Uzbekistan’s Sevinch Salaeva as potentially tough opponents, describing Salaeva, who Brussig could face in the semi-final, as “really strong”. Salaeva is her opponent in the semi final.

Ukraine’s former World No.1 and European champion Nataliya Nikolaychyk will not compete in the event, having recently been reclassified as B4 sight class, one above the B3 requirement for competing in blind judo.