Havana, December 8 (JIT): "The results in the recent Central Caribbean Games and the Pan American Games indicate that we are in conditions to do well in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games," said Martin Torres Peguero, national wrestling commissioner and president of the Cuban wrestling federation on Thursday.
His assessments were heard at the annual meeting of that sport with the press, held at the Assembly Hall of the Havana Sports City Coliseum.
Martin recalled that the season just ended was marked by the scarce celebration of national events, only the 59 National School Games, while at the international level they were active in 11 competitions of different levels.
Regarding the latter, he emphasized that with 97 participating athletes, 88 medals were won, 45 of them gold. He placed greater emphasis on the effectiveness in finals, as these 45 crowns came from 59 finals.
The executive pondered the praiseworthy performances in the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023; the XIX Pan American Games of Santiago 2023 and the World Wrestling Championship of Budapest 2023, in which performances always exceeded the forecasts.
In the Salvadoran capital, 15 titles and three bronze medals were won; in the Chilean capital, an 8-5-3 booty; and in the world competition, 2-0-1 and four tickets to Paris 2024. The latter were signed by champions Luis Orta and Gabriel Rosillo, bronze medalist Oscar Pino and female Milaymis Marín Potrillé.
Martín explained that they intend to qualify between 10 and 12 wrestlers for the upcoming Olympic Games, in a year of other priorities such as extending the specialization of coaches to new provinces; including the under-23 category in the national team tournament and expanding the practice of beach wrestling.
He showed a design of national and foreign events that can be fulfilled to the extent that the financial conditions of Inder allow it. Of course, the search for Olympic tickets will be a priority during the continental tournament scheduled in Mexico between late February and early March 2024.
For this purpose, during the second month of the year, the Pan American competition will be held, followed by the qualifier, which will provide two tickets per weight division.
The meeting included an update on the refereeing of this sport on the island, which has 232 exponents, three of them international and 148 national.
Manuel Rodríguez, methodologist of the National Wrestling Commission in charge of this matter, highlighted the level reached, but acknowledged that there are still very few international referees, taking into account the level of Cuba in this sport. He expressed hope that a Cuban will officiate in Paris 2024.
TRUJILLO'S WORDS IN CAPITAL LETTERS
Professor Raúl Trujillo described as extraordinary what was done in wrestling during the year that is coming to an end, because with very little competitive preparation activity, great results were achieved.
He praised the performances of Orta and Rosillo, world champions and of the multisport games in which they participated, and of Pino, who has already qualified Mijaín López for the Paris 2024 Games, among many other merits.
He considered that they should not be missing among the best athletes of the year in Cuba, a survey already open to sports managers and specialized journalists.
On the approaching Olympic challenge, he did not hesitate to predict a great performance of the Grecians, up to three crowns and two bronze medals.
When asked about the "size" of this idea, Trujillo assured that cowardice is not a way to win... We will have to listen to him, he is not a man who likes to throw out pretty things just for the fun of it.
THE TOP 10 FIGHTERS OF 2023
Luis Orta (LG, 67 kg), Oscar Pino (LG, 130 kg), Gabriel Rosillo (LG, 97 kg), Milaymis Marín (LF, 76 kg), Yusneylis Guzmán (LF, 50 kg), Alejandro Valdés (LL, 65 kg), Yurieski Torreblanca (LL, 86 kg), Daniel Grégorich (LG, 87 kg), Kevin de Armas (LG, 60 kg) and María Fernanda Santana (LF, 62 kg). Best coach: Raúl Trujillo (Greco-Roman wrestling); Best referee: Yunior Sosa.
