Havana, June 10 (JIT).- The Olympic and world champion Luis Orta reigned in the 67 kg Greco-Roman style during the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Wrestling Memorial of Budapest 2024, in Hungary.

With a performance of four victories in a row, he reiterated an open secret: his stardom and the solid candidacy for the Olympic crown in Paris 2024, three years after reigning in the 60 kg in the Tokyo 2020 edition.

The Havana native began his path in the qualifying round against the local David Mihaly Manyik, whom he defeated by technical superiority of 8-0. In the quarterfinals he beat the Japanese Kyotaro Sogabe 7-1, champion of his country last year and global bronze medalist among the under-23s in 2022.

The semifinals reserved for him his most complicated fight of the competition, against the Iranian Saeid Morad Gholi Esmaeili Leivesi, under-20 world champion in the 60 kg two seasons ago.

The fight ended with a close score of 9-7. Although ours took the initiative all the time and deserved better arbitration, the solution to the dispute included a notable carelessness on the part of his rival, who turned her back on him when regulation time was still running on the clock. Orta's reaction was "lethal", you can imagine...

To win the gold medal, the Cuban defeated Georgian Leri Abuladze, 63 kg world champion last year, 4-0. The bronze medals in this weight were won by Esmaeili and his countryman Mohammadreza Abdolhamid Geraei Morad.

The other Cuban contestant this Sunday, Yosvanys Peña, won one of the bronze medals in the 77 kg, thanks to three victories and one defeat.

The Antillean began his performance in the round of 16 against Serbian Nemanja Kimoski, whom he defeated by technical superiority 9-1. Then, in the “quarters,” he fell 1-3 to the experienced Bulgarian Aik Mnatsakanian, a two-time world bronze medalist at 72 kg.

The Cuban's options then moved on to the repechage phase, in which he beat the Egyptian Mahmoud Khaled Abdelsatar 4-1 and secured a place in the bronze medal dispute. In that instance he defeated the Turkish Burhan Akbudak. The Japanese Nao Susaka reigned in this division.

On Saturday, fellow Greco player Kevin de Armas had competed in the 63 kg, the division immediately above his (60 kg). He suffered a couple of setbacks.

The preparation of the Cubans towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will continue in Hungary until the beginning of July, when they will return home for a few days.