Cuban judoka Mestre to debut in Grand Prix of Dusseldorf

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 19 (acn) Judoka Dayaris Mestre will be the first to compete for Cuba in the Grand Prix of Dusseldorf, Germany, an event that will gather from today until Sunday to 548 athletes -340 men and 208 women- from 86 countries.

According to the website of the tournament, Mestre will debut against Ecuadorian Diana Cobos, in the 48 kg division.
Tomorrow the Caribbean island will have greater involvement, as Maricet Espinosa (63 kilos), Onix Cortés (70) and Magdiel Estrada (73) will start their performances, while Yalennis Castillo (78), Jose Armenteros (100 ) and Alex Garcia (+100) will do it on Sunday,
Cuban judo leading figures, Idalis Ortiz (+78) and Asley Gonzalez (90), will not compete in this event but it is scheduled them to attend the tournament training camp.
This is the third contest Cubans attend to on their European tour, as they previously competed in the Grand Slam in Paris (both sexes), France, and the Open in Rome (w), Italy and Oberwart (m), Austria.
The main purpose of the tour is to continue adding points for the world ranking towards the upcoming Olympic Games in August in Rio de Janeiro, competition for which that list grants 22 (m) and 14 (w) direct tickets.
The best result of Cubans in Paris was achieved by Mestre, who finished seventh, while in the Opens of Rome and Oberwart, the main protagonists were Castillo, with a gold medal, and Ortiz and Armenteros, with bronze medals, in addition to Mestre, Espinosa and García who were fifth.