Cuba finishes third in Judo Grand Prix of Almaty

HAVANA, Cuba, May 16 (acn) Idalis Ortiz placed Cuba in third seat of the standings in the Judo Grand Prix of Almaty, Kazakhstan, after beating 2-1 Turkish Kayra Sayit, in the more than 78 kilograms division.

Ortiz earned the second gold medal for the Caribbean island, as in previous days Ivan Silva (81 kilos) had starred that same performance and Yalennis Castillo (78) added a bronze medal with victory over Italian Assunta Geledne.
The fifth seats obtained by women Dayaris Mestre (48), Maricet Espinosa (63) and Onix Cortes (70) and man Jose Armenteros (100) also contributed to the third overall position of Cubans.
Ortiz's perfect performance included wins against Algerian Sonia Asselah (3-2), Puerto Rican Melissa Mojica (Ippon) and Serb Larisa Ceric (Ippon).
Meanwhile, Castillo beat Spanish Marta Tort Merino (Ippon) and Ukrainian Victoriia Turks (2-1), but lost in semifinals to Kazakh Albina Amangeldiyeva (Ippon).
The other two Cubans present in thie tournament were the men Alex Garcia (+100) and Magdiel Estrada (73) who both lost on their first bouts against Kazak Aituar Abdulov and Spanish Mohamed Kiyoshi, both by Ippon.
Cuba (2-0-1), with nine judokas, was only surpassed by France (3-0-2) and Georgia (2-0-2), leaders among the 83 participating countries, in a contest attended by 395 judokas -249 men and 146 women.
This event granted points -300 to the champions- for the Olympic ranking, which earns 22 (m) and 14 (w) direct tickets –one per nations in each of the 14 divisions- towards the Games next August in Rio de Janeiro.