LONDON – Brazilian judo athlete Sarah Menezes captured the 48-kilogram judo gold medal here Saturday, defeating defending Olympic champion Alina Alexandra Dumitru in the final.

The 22-year-old, second-ranked Menezes, who was making her Olympic debut, fought her best bout of the extra-lightweight tournament in the final, throwing her opponent for a waza-ari to claim the victory and Brazil’s first gold medal of the London Games.

Earlier Saturday, her countryman Felipe Kitadai – also making his first Olympic appearance – won a judo bronze medal in the men’s 60-kilogram (extra-lightweight) class by scoring a yuko late in his evenly-matched contest against Italy’s Elio Verde.