The cuban judoka Andy Granda, world champion of the +100 kg division in Tashkent last year, will have his first competitive test of 2023 at the Grand Slam of Parisagreed for February.
The winner of the distinction for the best Cuban athlete of 2022 said to the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that after successfully recovering from a shoulder injury, he plans to fully attend the event in the French capital in a sporting manner.
After that Grand Slam, the group of coaches will design the strategy to follow until May, when the judoka from Matanzas will defend his crown during the World Championship to be held in Doha, Qatar.
Granda explained to the outlet that among his plans for this year is also participation in the Central American and Caribbean Games tournament, which will host the capital of El Salvador in June, and in the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile during the month October.
The judoka Andy Granda (+100 Kg), best athlete of 2022 in #Cubawill seek to repeat the title at the 2023 Pan American Games. It will be one of the chances of medals for our delegation at the Paris Olympics.@radiorebeldecu @radio_cubana @CMontiller @venega_omar pic.twitter.com/GHUmBwJxX4
— Guillermo Rodríguez Gato (@GuilleRebelde) December 26, 2022
Both fights are of great importance, both individually and for the Cuban judo teams of each sex, especially the Chilean joust, which will serve as a qualifying event for the Olympic Games of Paris 2024.
Regarding his Olympic aspirations, Granda assured ACN that it is the competition “in which every athlete aspires to shine, the medal that everyone wants to win, and if it is gold, much better”, so he will try to achieve that aspiration with 31 years old.
The Yumurino athlete also has among his main laurels six medals in continental judo tournament and the crown won at the Pan American Games in Lima, in 2019.
Granda won the only gold medal for Cuba in the last Judo World Championship after defeating the Japanese Tatsuru Saito in the final of his division with a spectacular ippon, who at only 20 years old is one of the new talents of that sport.
This performance earned the Cuban judoka to move up to third place of the world ranking of the super heavyweight division, with an accumulated 4,432 points.
This sum also includes the units harvested after winning the title in the Pan American and Oceania Championships held in September 2022, and the bronze medals won in the European Open Tournament and in the Grand Slam in Antalya, Turkey, both events held in April 2022.
