Cuba doesn't win medals in final day at Judo Grand Slam in Baku

HAVANA, Cuba, May 9 (acn) Cuba won no medals at the Judo Grand Slam in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the best performance for Idalis Ortiz, who finished seventh in the +78 kg division won by Japanese Kanae Yamabe.

Precisely Yamabe, gold medalist in 2014 in the Grand Slams of Tyumen and Paris, and silver medalist in the 2015 Morocco Masters, sent Ortiz to the repechage when beating her 3-2, stage where she also lost by Ippon to Belarus Maryna Slotskaya.

The only win of Ortiz, Olympic champion and twice monarch of the world, was against Larisa Ceric, from Bosnia Herzegovina, silver in the 2014 European championship, bronze in Paris 2015 Grand Slam and fifth in Rio de Janeiro 2013 world championship.

According to the website of the tournament, the other three Cubans in competition were Jose Armenteros (100), Yalennis Castillo (78) and Alex Garcia (+100), but they all quickly lost the chances of medals on a day where coaches Justo Noda (m) and Armando Padron (w) expected much more.

Castillo beat 3-1 Portuguese Yahima Ramirez, but then lost by Ippon to Japanese Mami Umeki, who won the bronze medal; Armenteros had a negative debut 1-0 against British Benjamin Fletcher, and Garcia won and lost against German Sven Heinle and Hungarian Barna Bor, 3-1 and 1-2, respectively.

Cuba's best performance was achieved on Saturday when Maricet Espinosa (63) and Ivan Silva (81) won bronze medals, while Dayaris Mestre (48) finished seventh on Friday.

The Caribbean island finished 23rd in the overall standings, which was led by Japan (3-1-2), followed by Spain (2-0-1), Netherlands (1-2-0), Uzbekistan (1 -1-1), UK (1-1-1), Mongolia (1-0-1), Russia (1-0-1), Ukraine (1-0-0), Israel 1-0-0), Georgia (1-0-0) and Sweden (1-0-0), the 11 countries that won titles.

Cuban Asley González (90), Olympic silver medalist and world champion, was absent as he has a slight discomfort in his right shoulder and Noda decided not to expose him to potential injury, just as he did in the recently concluded Pan American Championships in Havana.

The event brought together 447 judokas -278 men and 169 women- from 76 nations, all in search of points for the Olympic ranking –which grants 22 (m) and 14 (w) direct tickets to the Games next August in Rio de Janeiro.