Havana, March 10 (RHC) -- Cuban judoka Ivan Silva won the 90 kilogram title at the Grand Prix Upper Austria on Sunday; Andy Granda, the silver in over 100, and multi-time champion Idalys Ortiz the bronze in over 78.
The main figures of the discipline gave the island its first medals in the European tour that contributes points to the qualifying ranking and also serves as preparation for the Paris-2024 Olympic Games, after the Antillean nation looked discreet in the Grand Slam of the French capital, Baku and Tashkent.
Silva showed up in great form and scored five wins in a row, including in the semifinal against Georgia's Giorgi Jabniashvili and for the crown against Spain's Tristani Mosakhlishvili.
At 28 years of age, the Baku-2018 world runner-up in the 90s is one of Cuba's hopes for the Paris-2024 Olympic Games, an event under the five rings that will start on July 26.
For his part, Granda -Universal champion in Tashkent-2022- left Chile's Francisco Solis and Israel's Evgeny Shmachilin on the road in the over 100 kilograms, before defeating Germany's Losseni Kone in the semifinal.
In the bout for the crown of the Grand Prix Upper Austria, the 32-year-old Antillean and bet of his country in a category that will be very competitive in Paris-2024 was beaten by Czech Lukas Krpalek, double Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro-2016 (100 kilograms) and Tokyo-2020 (over 100) and also two-time world titleholder (2014 and 2019).
Another good Sunday performance for Cuba was starred by multi-Olympic and world medalist Idalys Ortiz (summer gold medalist in London-2012 and twice world champion, 2013 and 2014) with her bronze medal in over 78 kilograms, a division conquered by Brazilian multiple world medalist Beatriz Souza, the only one who could beat her.
Little by little, the Cuban living legend (four Olympic and eight world medals) is recovering her competitive level, with victories on Austrian soil over Germany's Samira Bouizgarne, Croatia's Helena Vukovic, the Netherlands' Karen Stevenson (repechage) and Turkey's Hilal Ozturk (for bronze). (Source: Prensa Latina)
