Cuban judoka Armenteros wins bronze in Austria

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 15 (acn) The judoka José Armenteros was the highlight of Cuba, in the men's Judo Open of Obereart, Austria, when finishing third in the final day of a contest won by Mongolia with two gold and one silver medals.

Cubans -only four-finished eleventh in an event attended by 241 athletes from 48 countries, with the bronze medal reached by Armenteros (100 kg), and the fifth seat by Alex Garcia (+100 kilos), who also contributed points.

Mongolia (2-1-0) was followed by Azerbaijan (1-0-1), Iran (1-0-1), Kazakhstan (1-0-0), Austria (1-0-0) and Hungary (1-0-0), the six nations which won the seven gold medals in dispute.

Armenteros won the bronze with a victory by Ippon against Azeri Jalil Shukurov, result with which he completed three wins, as he previously beat Kazakh Nikita Azarov (2-1) and Chinese Kai Hu, also by Ippon.

Russian Arsen Omarov, who beat him by Ippon in the semifinals, sent him to the play-offs, according to the website of the contest.

Garcia defeated by Ippon and Yuko Russian Mogomed Nazhmudinov and Tunisian Faicel Jaballah, in that order, but lost to Azeri Ushangi Kokauri and Egyptian Islam El Shehaby in semifinals and play-offs, respectively, to eventually finish fifth .

The also Cuban Ivan Silva (81), who achieved a win and a loss, also competed on Sunday, while the most notable absentee was Asley González (90), perhaps due to an strategy of Coach Justo Noda.

Gonzalez, Olympic silver medalist and world champion, is Cuban men's judo team main trump card, and, as in previous tournaments, he must be enrolled only for training camp.

On Saturday, Magdiel Estrada (73) finished fast on the mat, with balance of a win and one loss, against German Robert Barwing (1-0) and Gambian Faye Njie (0-2), in that order.

Oberwart was the second stop of Noda´s disciples on their European tour, as the previous weekend they participated in the Grand Slam in Paris, France, while the third and final stop will be at the Grand Prix of Germany, from February 19 to 21.

The main goal of Noda´s pupils is to keep adding points for the world ranking that grants 22 direct tickets towards the Olympic Games to be held next August in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil.