Cuba debuts today at Judo Grand Slam in Tashkent

 HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 3 (ACN) Cuba will debut today with Zamarit Gregorio Vasconsuelo, in the 48 kilograms (kg), Yurisleidy Hernandez (52 kg) and Arnaes Odelin (57 kg) in the first day of the Grand Slam of Judo in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, a competition that brings together 364 athletes from 49 countries.

According to the website of the International Federation, Zamarit is in pool D and will face Kazakhstan's Galiya Tynbayeva in her first bout, while Yarisleidy and Arnaes will face Uzbekistan's Gulkhayo Juraeva and USA's Mariah Holguin, in that order, both placed in the B keys.

On Saturday, three more of the 10 trainees of Julio Alderete and Yordanis Arencibia, head coaches of the men's and women's national teams, respectively, are scheduled to compete: Maylin del Toro (63 kg), Idelannis Gomez (70 kg) and Magdiel Estrada (73 kg).

Del Toro will debut against Azhar Isaeva, from Kyrgyzstan, and Idelannis and Estrada will face Jamaican Ebony Drysdale and William Tai Tin, from Samoa, respectively.

On Sunday, Cuba will have Ivan Silva (90 kg), Liester Cardona (100 kg), Omar Cruz (+100 kg) and world champion Andy Granda (+100 kg), who is attending his first tournament this year and in the same venue where he was crowned world champion in 2022.

Silva and Estrada will try to improve on the fifth places -they discussed bronze- achieved in the Israeli city, where the now absent Olympic (1-2-1) and world (2-2-4) multi medalist, Idalis Ortiz (+78 kg) was in seventh place, after not being able to continue competing due to a dislocated right elbow injury, from which she is recovering.

The Cubans are in training bases -three months- in France and Hungary, in that order, which will allow them to continue their preparation and compete in top-level events, which will award points for the world and Olympic rankings in the run-up to Paris 2024.