Maylín del Toro

Havana, Feb 2 (JIT) - Cubans Maylín del Toro (63 kg) and Jonathan Charón (60 kg) failed to advance on Saturday in the first day of the Paris 2025 Judo Grand Slam.

The debut in the first major tournament of the year, which opens the season of this sport worldwide, was not the most satisfactory, as both fell in their first outings.

Charón lost after a long bout against the young local Kevin Ray when the third shido in the Golden Rule came, which provoked the hansoku-make.

The same fate befell del Toro, who also suffered a defeat by hansoku-make after 5 minutes of fighting.

Her rival, the Japanese Haruka Kaju, champion of the Grand Slam of Tokyo 2024, last competition of the previous season. 

The Japanese player repeated her title at the end of the season, beating the local Manon Deketer, world medalist, in the final.

Other winners were the locals Romain Valadier Picard (60 kg) and Martha Fawaz (57 kg), the Japanese Mitsuki Kondo (48 kg) and Kisumi Omori (52 kg), the Azeri Ruslan Pashayev (66 kg), and the Uzbek Shakhram Ahadov (73 kg). The event features nearly 300 competitors of 50 nationalities and so far Japan dominates with three crowns, followed by France with two, and Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan with one each. 

On the concluding day, which will take place this Sunday, will compete for the Greater Antilles the Baku 2018 world runner-up, Ivan Silva, who reappears now in the 100 kg against the young Latvian Maksims Duinovs.

On the same day will fight the world champion of Tashkent 2022, Andy Granda (+100 kg), who will debut in the second round against South Korea's Seungyeob Lee.

Russian world champion Inal Tasoev is making his comeback in that division. Perhaps the man Granda will face if he advances to the final.