Havana, March 22 (RHC) - The three Cuban judo fighters who saw action this Friday in the first day of the Grand Slam of Judo in Tbilisi, Georgia, left a good image, but were unable to advance to the fight for the medals.
The 20-year-old Jonathan Charon (60 kg) defeated Costa Rican Sebastian Sancho in his first bout, but then he was defeated by Ukrainian Khalmatov by wazari.
Orlando Polanco (66 kg) defeated Georgian Tornike Maziashvili by ippon in his debut and Agamammedov in his second bout, but then lost to Uzbekistan's Sardar Nurillaev by ippon.
The other Cuban judo star who competed on the day was the 20-year-old Alianny Carbonell (52 kg), who won in her first outing against Maryam Maharani (India), but then was beaten by Ana Puljiz (Croatia).
More than 500 judoists from 83 countries are competing in the prestigious tournament, with the incentive of awarding points for the qualifying ranking for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Five other Cubans will be competing in the coming days. Magdiel Estrada (73 kg) was seeded in the second round and if he advances, he could meet in the quarterfinals with five-time Japanese world medalist Soichi Mashimoto, world champion in Budapest 2017.
Ivan Silva (90 kg), recent winner of the Austrian Grand Prix, is one of the candidates for the podium, in a division that includes the stellar Georgian Lasha Bekauri, Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020.
Another one who will try to retain or improve his bronze medal in the previous edition is Andy Granda (+100 kg), although he will have in his way two stars like the Georgian world champion Guram Tushishvili and the multi Olympic and world champion Rafael Macedo, from Brazil.
Among the women, Maylín del Toro (63 kg) will face rivals such as Mexico's Prisca Awiti and Laura Fazliu, from Kosovo.
Idalys Ortiz (+78 kg) will debut against Russia's Anastasia Kholodilina and in the semifinals she could have a rematch against Brazil's Beatriz Souza, who beat her recently.
Idelannis Gómez (70 kg) will not compete because she is injured and recovering here in Cuba, according to Rafael Manso, president of the national judo federation, who informed JIT.
