The jiu-jitsu fighter Marcela Lima, 22, wore her blue kimono this Monday morning (8). But unlike what she normally does, she would not face any fighting opponent, but honor an idol.
Lima was one of the countless fighters who were dressed in uniform at the wake of world champion Leandro Lo, 33, who died on Sunday (7) with a gunshot to the head. The body is being veiled at Morumby Cemetery, in São Paulo, where it will be buried at 4 pm this Monday.
“He was a reference in the sport,” said the young woman, who said she had seen the idol in combat several times.
The athlete was shot after a disagreement at a concert. Military Police Lieutenant Henrique Otavio Oliveira Velozo, 30, who turned himself in early this Sunday night after the court decreed his temporary detention for 30 days.
According to the fighter’s family lawyer, Velozo would have provoked the athlete and ended up being immobilized by Lo. The man would then have drawn a gun and shot the fighter in the head.
The fighters present at the wake responded to a request from the world champion’s mother, Fátima Lo, to go to the wake and burial with kimonos.
“It’s a tribute that we’re paying him,” said fighter Fernando Lopes, 48, who said he met Lo at the beginning of the athlete’s career, when he was still a teenager.
“He was an opponent of one of my students and he was already different,” said Lopes, who organizes a fight event, the BJJ Stars, of which Lo was also champion.
The report saw dozens of people wearing white, blue or black kimonos arrive for the wake, including chef Alex Atala, who says he is fanatical about the sport. He did not speak to journalists.
The ceremony is restricted to relatives, friends and fellow wrestlers. “He didn’t choose who to face,” said Lopes.
A friend of Leandro Lo, William Carmona took the garment under his arms when he arrived. He said he found out about the crime in a WhatsApp group of jiu-jitsu fighters around 3 am on Sunday.
“It was difficult news,” he said, remembering that Lo was known in the community as “the people’s champion”, for having been revealed for the sport in a social project in the region of Ipiranga, south zone, when he was 14 years old.
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