Orta and Pino win gold at Grand Prix de Lucha in France

Havana, January 23 (JIT).- Cubans Luis Alberto Orta, Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020, and Oscar Pino, double world medalist, won gold medals at the Grand Prix de Lucha de Niza 2023, in France.

Orta, Tokyo-2020 champion, defeated Tigran Galustyan of France in the 67 kg final, in a fight that ended in a two-point tie in the first period, but in the second period the Antillean got five points to win 7-2.

The bout was stopped due to an injury to the French gladiator with two minutes left in the contest.

The Frenchman Galustyan had defeated in the quarterfinals the Olympic runner-up in Tokyo 2020, the Ukrainian Parvis Nasibov.

To reach the final, the Cuban got victories by points over Swiss Michael Portman and French Stefan Clement, and by technical superiority over Lithuanian Adomas Grigaliunas (11-0). 

For his part, the lanky Pino won the 130 kg crown without conceding a single point against the three opponents he faced during the competition.

To reach the final, the Havana native defeated Greece's Nikolaos in the quarterfinals and Poland's Dominik Tomasz in the semifinals, in both cases by technical superiority (9-0). In the final he beat Germany's Franz Richter 5-0.

The Cubans will now cover a preparation base in Croatia and will perform from February 1 to 5 in the first event of the ranking series of the season.