Havana, March 6 (ACN) -- Raul Trujillo, head coach of the Cuban Greco-Roman wrestling team, said in Havana that the performance of his pupils in the Olympic Qualifiers of Wrestling of America, held in Acapulco, Mexico, at the end of February, was very good.

In that event, Kevin de Armas (60 kg) and Yosvanys Peña (77 kg) won their tickets to the summer event in Paris, France, to be held from July 26 to August 11 of this year.

Trujillo told Agencia Cubana de Noticias that with these two places there are already five qualified athletes, but one is missing to go with the complete team.

He added that he was sorry for the non-qualification of Daniel Grégorich (87 kg), champion in the Pan American Games of Santiago de Chile 2023, and that he had presented himself in good conditions to the competition; but sometimes things do not go as expected, he said.

However, he said that he would still have a chance in a world tournament to be held in Türkiye (Turkey) in May, where three places will be given in each of the divisions, he said.

In the pre-Olympic Gregorich won 9-0 in his debut against José Antonio Moreno, from Chile, but in the semifinals he lost 3-6 to Spencer Woods, from the United States, and could not get his ticket.

Prior to that event, the Greco-Roman athletes had secured three spots in the five rings in the World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, last September.

There, Cuban Greco-Roman wrestlers had outstanding results with two gold medals won by Luis Orta (67 kg) and Gabriel Rosillo (97 kg), and a bronze medal by Oscar Pino (130 kg).

Trujillo recalled that Pino's place will be taken by the legend Mijaín López, four-time Olympic champion and five-time gold medalist in world events.

With Mijaín, Orta and Rosillo we have three gladiators of excellent quality who can fight toe to toe with their rivals for the title in their weights, concluded the outstanding coach.