Cienfuegos, November 11 (RHC)-- Cuba's National Women's Judo Team, led by the star Idalys Ortiz, is training in Cienfuegos province for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Yordanis Arencibia, technical director of the team, told the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that they are currently in a recovery phase after the pause imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic.  She said that they are going through several training cycles to review techniques and recover their physical strength, and judocas have been incorporated very well, in order to prepare for the qualifiers that culminate on June 30th next year.

She explained that there are three judocas in the qualification zone for the Olympic event: Idalys Ortiz (+78kg), Kaliema Antomarchi (78kg) and Maylin del Toro (63kg).  She added that they will try to incorporate a fourth judoca in the 57kg division at the upcoming Pan-American Adult Judo Championship in Gudalajara, Mexico, to be held this month.

This continental event, equivalent to a Grand Prix, awards 700 points to the winners of the gold for the world ranking.

Arencibia Verdecia asked the people of the Island to trust that the Cuban judocas will give their best, to look for the greatest number of medals and good places in the Olympic Games.  She stressed that both the technical group and the sportswomen feel very grateful for the good attention received in the province of Cienfuegos.

Kaliema Antomarchi, representative of the 78kg, commented that this first stage of preparation, after being approximately seven months away from the tatami, has been very good.