Daniel Gregorich

Havana, May 5 (JIT) - The experienced Daniel Gregorich reigned in the 87 kg and gave Cuba its third crown in the classic style of the Pan American Wrestling Championship of Buenos Aires 2023.

The Cuban defeated Panamanian Alfonso Alain Jaramillo Samaniego in the qualifying round by 9-0 technical superiority; and did the same in the quarterfinals against Brazilian Ronisson Brandao Santiago (8-0).

In the semifinals, the world champion in the U-23 category defeated Alan Ernesto Vera García, a Cuban who is now fighting for the United States, by a wide score of 10-1.

The gold medal went to his neck without a fight against Venezuelan Luis Eduardo Avendano, who declared himself injured, according to the World Wrestling Union website.

This qualifies as Grégorich's third gold medal in these lides, after the reigns in 2018 and 2022. 

The other wrestler with a performance on Thursday, Yosvanys Peña (77 kg), won the silver medal. His path began with easy successes against Adrian Exavier J. Maynard (9-0) from Barbados and Luis Rafael Centeno (9-0) from Puerto Rico. In the semifinals, he came out on top in a more even fight against Venezuela's Wuileixis de Jesús Rivas (4-1), but in the final, he was unable to defeat U.S. representative Kamal Ameer Bey with a 2-1 slate.

On Wednesday, the team led by professor Raul Trujillo celebrated the titles of Luis Orta (67 kg) and Oscar Pino (130 kg), as well as the third place of Kevin de Armas (60 kg). The only member of the team who did not reach the podium was Yurisandy Hernández (97 kg).

The women's competition also started this Thursday, but the Cubans have not seen action yet.