The silver medal won by Omar Cruz (+100 kg) closed the individual performance of the Cuban delegation at the Guayaquil 2022 World Judo Championships.

Havana, August 14 (RHC)-- The silver medal won by Omar Cruz (+100 kg) closed the individual performance of the Cuban delegation at the Guayaquil 2022 World Judo Championships.

Champion of the First Caribbean Games of Guadeloupe 2022, Cruz won all his bouts by ippon until he reached the final against the talented Japanese Yuta Nakamura.

The Cuban defeated Kanan Nasibov of Azerbaijan in the first bout by ippon in 2:27 minutes. A minute before the definition he had scored a waza-ari.

In the quarterfinals he defeated the representative of the Netherlands, Jules Blom, by waza-ari-awasete-ippon at the end of regulation time. He then disposed of American Christian Konoval by hansoku-make in 2:22 minutes.

In the final against the Asian, runner-up of the Judo Grand Prix of Portugal 2022, he endured the regulation time without allowing positive actions.

In the golden rule extension, Nakamura asserted his status as favorite and took him out of the fight with an ippon projection. However, the subtitle turned out to be the best of the Major of the Antilles in the fight.

Also on the day, Dayanara Curbelo (+78 kg) defeated Georgia's Ana Sherazadishvili by ippon in just 1:28 minutes, but in the second round she lost to Turkey's Hilal Ozturk by waza-ari-awasete-ippon. Thus, she had no chance to reach the medalist draw.

With this performance, Cuba finished in 12th place in a competition with youngsters from 63 nations. Previously, Kimy Bravo (-66 kg) and Idelannis Gómez (-70 kg) had won bronze medals. 

Japan was the big winner of the tournament with 10 medals, six gold, two silver and an equal number of bronze. France (1-2-3) and Turkey (1-2-2) completed the podium by countries.

Cuba's performance can be considered very positive, taking into account the high level of a competition that will close today, Sunday, with the team competition.