Cuban Antomarchi to debut at 2022 world judo championships

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 11 (ACN) Judoka Kaliema Antomarchi will try today to open Cuba's medal standings in the sixth day of the individual tournament of the World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where Japan dominates the competition with five gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Antomarchi, 78 kilograms (kg) will have the responsibility Tuesday to get the first medal for Cuba, after seven failed attempts, the last of these with Ivan Silva (90 kg), who came close, finishing in fifth place -discussed the bronze-.

The Cuban, world bronze medalist in 2017 and twenty-third in the world ranking, will debut against Germany's Alina Boehm, eighth in the world ranking.

The greatest medal possibilities for the Cubans will be Wednesday on the last date of the individual tournament, when Idalis Ortiz (+78 kg), multi medalist in Olympic (2-2-1) and world (2-2-4) and thirteenth in the world ranking, debuts.

Another who could climb to the podium is Andy Granda (+100 kg), twelfth in the ranking, who will be accompanied in the division by young Omar Cruz.

Cuba is ranked 25th -tied with Chile and Romania- thanks to Silva's fifth place, so a good performance by Antomarchi could improve the Caribbean's position in the standings.

Japan (5-3-2) leads the medal table, followed by Mongolia (1-1-1), Croatia (1-1-0), Georgia (1-0-2), Brazil (1-0-1) and Uzbekistan (1-0-0), the six nations with at least one title, in a world championship that gathers 571 judokas -310 men and 261 women- from 82 countries.