Cubans Melissa Hurtado (52 kg) and Vanesa Godínez (48 gk) achieved gold and silver in the European Open of Judo Oberwart, Austria, a tournament to which the Island attends with a small delegation and without the main figures of the national team.
Hurtado reached the title by beating the Swiss Fabienne Kocher in the final by ippon, after her opponent was penalized with shidos, which meant the hansoku-make and the gold for the Antillean, point out press reports.
After being bye in the first round, the judoka from the Island won the representative of the Netherlands, Rachel Van De Meeberg, by ippon in the quarterfinals, and later defeated the Uzbek Stia Kadamboeva by wazari in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Godínez fell in a close fight in the final of the 48 kg against the French Shirine Boukli, first in the ranking in the division, in a fight decided by the golden rule as no actions were marked in regulation time.
gold and silver for #Cuba in Open of #Judo from Austria
Melissa Hurtado and Vanesa Godínez were champion and runner-up, respectively.https://t.co/JKRRbo7bSh pic.twitter.com/mK8uOHb3gT— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) September 3, 2022
On the way to the final, Godínez defeated the local Katharina Tanzer by wazari, and then beat the Uzbek Khalimajon Kurbonova by ippon in the quarterfinals and the Romanian Alexandra Pop in the semis, with the same decision.
Meanwhile, the male representatives of Cuba who came out on the tatami were defeated early. Danny Porte fell by ippon in his first 60kg bout against German Maximilian Standke, and in the 67kg Orlando Polanco lost in the second round against Dutchman Victor Van Gerven, also by ippon.
On Sunday, Nairelis Fuentes (70 kg) and Naomis Elizarde (+78 kg) will represent Cuba in the women’s section, while Yasel Baeza will be in the men’s category in 81 kg, Heriberto Rivero in 100 kg and the experienced Andy Granda in +100 kg.
