Cuba has already secured six quotas for the judo tournament of the First Pan American Youth Games of Cali 2021

Havana, October 12 (ACN) -- Cuba has already secured six quotas for the judo tournament of the First Pan American Youth Games of Cali 2021, but aspires to another four, informed Rafael Manso, president of the National Federation of that martial art.

Manso added that Thailen Castillo, in the 57 kilograms (kg), Idelannis Gómez (70 kg), Thalia Nariño (+78 kg), Kimi Bravo (66 (kg), Serguei Rodríguez (90 kg) and Ray Keny Díaz (+100 kg) are training with their tickets assured on the tatamis of the Cerro Pelado Training School for High Performance Athletes.

Waiting for other places -also by invitation- the judokas in the 63 and 78 kg (f) and 73 and 100 kg (m) divisions are preparing, all under the direction of Andrés Franco and Félix Portuondo (f) and Gustavo Cepero and Buanis Chang (m).

In this regard, he explained that if this second application is approved, the four coaches will decide who will be selected to attend the multi-sport event in the Colombian city, scheduled to take place from November 25 to December 5.

For this reason, the commissioner of the Federation and the Cuban Olympic Committee are in communication with the authorities of Panam Sports, despite the short time remaining for the closing of the final inscriptions.

The current situation of Cuban judo to get the quotas is justified because its teams (m and f) could not compete in the Pan American Youth Championship in August, held in Cali, for presenting several positive cases to the COVID-19.

In that tournament, 500 points were awarded to the winners for the qualifying ranking, and Cuba aspired with good chances to include among the medalists its 14 competitors (m and f), a performance that would have guaranteed all the places, designated for the first seven in each division.

The judo tournament of the youth continental event will feature 112 athletes, with stage at the Yuri Alvear coliseum, located in the municipality of Jamundi, where Alvear, an outstanding 70 kg judoka who boasts among her main results the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games and three world titles, was born.