Photo: JIT contributor

Havana, February 23 (RHC)-- Cuba qualified all its teams for the taekwondo tournament of the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023, scheduled for June 23 to July 8.

"We fulfilled, we won quotas for full teams in kyorugui, including that of the novel KT3," Ivan Fernandez Quiros, president of the Cuban Taekwondo Federation, told JIT from Costa Rica, venue of the qualifier.

The also national commissioner of that sport added that in addition to getting the ticket in individual poomsae, the Cubans were granted a wild card in that modality.

"We had a perfect performance. We did not lose a fight in the kyorugui and in the poomsae the boys were at the level expected," he said.

Olympic bronze medalist Rafael Alba and Tamara Robles from Holguín led the delegation. They attended the regional event held in Barranquilla 2018, in Colombia, where they won gold medals.

Also integrating the Antillean armada were boys Ormis Daniel Lagart (68 kg), Akelis Matos (53 kg) and Kelvin Calderón, as well as girls Arlettys de la C. Acosta (67 kg), Frislaidis Martínez (+67 kg) and Dalila Oneida Villamil (49 kg). Coaches René García and Arlen Manuel González guided the men and girls, respectively.

They represented the Island in TK3, a modality in which Guillermo Pérez, Alexis Yuniel Noa, Eliécer Pérez and Brayan Cantero made their international debuts among boys; and among girls, Marlyn Pérez, Anisleidis Fernández, Elianet María Crespo and Zalarit Milagros Cortés. They were supervised by Arnoy Rojas (f) and Osmany Denkas (m).

The TK3 consists of three rounds of three minutes of fighting with 30 seconds of rest. They all perform, relieving each other, according to the coach's strategy.

The poomsae team competed in the mixed freestyle pair with Pedro Pablo and Esther Melissa, who also competed in individual freestyle. Carlos Manuel Regalado acted as coach of the modality. The delegation also included Dr. Zamira Díaz and physiotherapist María Emilia O'Farrill.

They will participate from this Thursday until next Saturday in the Costa Rica 2023 Pan Am Taekwondo Series, a G1 category open tournament that awards points for the ranking of the International Taekwondo Federation (WT).

The taekwondo event of El Salvador 2023 will take place in the Dominican Republic, sub venue of the regional event, in addition to six other sports.