Cuban Taekwondo

Havana, March 23 (JIT) - Cuban free style poomsei Pedro Pablo Escalona Guerra and Tania Indira Delgado Salfrán won the place to the Pan American Games of Santiago 2023, during the qualifying tournament held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

They did it in the free style, leaving on the way representatives of powers such as the United States, Argentina and Brazil.

"We are very happy. It is a milestone that shows the preparation of our boys trained by Carlos Manuel Regalado Toledo, a former gymnast and taekwondoka," the president of the Cuban Taekwondo Federation, Iván Fernández Quirós, told JIT with emotion.

"We dreamed it, we trained and we achieved it. The joy is immense," said Indira, who for the first time will attend a Pan American event, like her competition partner Pedro Pablo.

"Our teacher told us to concentrate on what we came to do, that the result would come out and right now we feel great, very great," said the young Camagüey native.

"They have wood for that and more. It was demonstrated here. Now we have ahead of us more work, more training, perfection of what we do", Regalado expressed with his usual modesty.

PARATAEKWONDO JOINED THE PARTY

The parataekwondocas Idalianna Quintero Acevedo (65 kg) and Dayán Sosa Pérez (+80 kg) joined this joy, by qualifying for the event in the Chilean capital between next October and November.

"This is an important step in our goal to excel in the continent and the world, to put the name of Cuba high," said coach Reinaldo Ros Chivás from the venue, accompanied by his counterpart Néstor Pérez Méndez.

At the time this note was issued, the action was still going on at the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, where the Cuban delegation has started off on an excellent footing.

The kyorugui still remains for Thursday. The Cuban team is led by the bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Rafael Alba Castillo (+80 kg).