Cuba debuts today at Tbilisi Grand Slam of Judo

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 24 (ACN) Cuba will debut today with judokas Orlando Polanco and Kimy Bravo, both in the 66 kilograms (kg), in the first day of the Grand Slam of Tbilisi, Georgia, a competition that brings together 419 athletes from 61 countries in search of points for the world rankings (WR) and Olympic rankings.

According to the website of the International Federation www.ijf.org, Friday Polanco and Bravo, numbers 65 and 99 in the WR, will be in pools B and C against US player Ari Berliner and Israeli Daniel Kapelushnik, respectively.

For this first date are also scheduled the bouts in the 48, 52 and 57 kg (f), and 60 kg, where no Cubans were registered.

On Saturday, Magdiel Estrada (73 kg-thirteenth) will fight in the key B and against the Dominican Antonio Tornal, a date with more possibilities of medals than the previous one.

The best chances for Julio Alderete's pupils will be on Sunday, when the world champion of Tashkent 2022 Andy Granda (+100 kg-third) and Ivan Silva (90 kg-sixth) will fight in the closing day of the tournament.

Cubans have been training for three months in Hungary, which has allowed them to participate -not always with the same judokas- in the Grand Slam of Paris, Tel Aviv and Tashkent, in that order.

So far, Cuba's medalists are Silva (Paris), Granda (Tashkent) and Estada (Tashkent), all of them bronze medalists.