Cuba leads judo qualifier in Santo Domingo

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 21 (ACN) Cuba dominated the judo qualifying tournament for the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023, by taking first place in the medal standings, with 10 gold, three silver and two bronze medals, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Amauri Mendive, methodologist of the national commission of this martial art, told the Cuban News Agency that the Cuban men's and women's teams won 10 of the 14 titles disputed on Thursday against representatives from 15 countries.

The Cuban champions were Orlando Polanco, in the 66 kilograms (kg), Magdiel Estrada (73kg), Jorge Martinez (81 kg), Ivan Silva (90 kg), Liester Cardona (100 kg), Andy Granda (+100 kg), Zamarit Gregorio (48 kg), Yurisleidys Hernandez (52 kg), Arnaes Odelin (57 kg) and Idelannis Gomez (78 kg).

The silver medals were won by Maylin del Toro (63 kg), Nairelis Fuentes (78 kg) and Idalis Ortiz (+78 kg), while the two bronze medals went to Maikel Mckencie (81 kg) and Aleannis Cabonell (48 kg), divisions in which Cuba presented two judoists.

Close to the podium was also Cuban Danny Porte (60 kg), who placed seventh after losing in the bout that would keep him with possibilities of advancing in the repechage on his way to the bronze medal.

Surprising was the silver medal of Idalis, multi Olympic (1-2-1) and world (2-2-4) medalist, who lost in the final to Venezuela's Amarantha Urdaneta, a 21-year-old athlete on the rise and with good results.

Cuba (10-3-2) led the event, followed by Venezuela (2-4-4), Dominican Republic (1-3-2) and Jamaica (1-1-2), the four nations that won at least one crown.

Also with wins were Mexico (0-3-6), Colombia (0-0-3), Panama (0-0-3), Puerto Rico (0-0-3) and Haiti (0-0-1), ninth place.