He cuban boxer Saidel Horta, weighing 57 kg, won the silver medal at the Tashkent World Championship, an event that ended this Sunday and in which Cuba finished fourth by nation.
Horta, just 21 years old and debuting in world events, was defeated in the final of his division by the Uzbek favorite Abdumalik Khalokov, in a controversial decision by the judges.
The venue obtained the unanimous verdict of the judges (5-0), a decision “marked by the ‘gift’ of the officials who saw him better in the first act”, according to review the digital site Hit.
According to the sports publication, the Cuban “was deprived of the dominance achieved in the initial assault, when the acting referee undeservedly told him of protection.”
refers Hit that “from now on Khalokov appealed to all his resources to prevent the predictions from being undone, and the bewilderment took its toll on Horta, whom the third of the ring he deducted a point for holding, ignoring that it was one more foul committed by the home team”.
“I was having a very good first round, but the count and the fact that the judges didn’t see me win made me leave the fight a bit from that moment on, mainly after the point was taken away in the second,” said the young boxer, who he dedicated the medal to his mother and all the mothers of Cuba.
In this way, Cuba said goodbye to Tashkent with a single scepter, the one reached this Saturday by the now double world champion Yoenlis Hernández (75 kg), and could not be included among the first three countries in the contest.
Nor could it match the three crowns achieved in the previous edition, held in Belgrade, although it exceeded the total number of medals achieved on that occasion.
Now, Hernández’s title was joined by the silver medals of Horta, and also debutants Erislandy Álvarez (60 kg) and Fernando Arzola (92 kg). Meanwhile, Alejandro Claro (48 kg) and Yosbany Veitía (54 kg) closed with bronze in a World Cup with several controversial decisions, especially in favor of the hosts.
For Cuba, it represented a transition event, in which new figures of talent and possibilities emerged, as four of its main representatives, Lázaro Álvarez (63.5 kg), Roniel Iglesias (67 kg), Arlen López (80 kg), and Julio César la Cruz (92 kg) were surprisingly left off the podium.
Finally, the organizing country, Uzbekistan, dominated the event with five golds, two silvers and two bronzes, and was followed by Kazakhstan (4-1-0) and Russia (2-0-4). Cuba (1-3-2) and France (1-1-1), were the other two nations with at least one title.
