The Cuban judoka Ivan Silva This Sunday he won the gold medal in the Antalya Grand SlamTurkey, where he won five unappealable victories on his way to the top of the 90-kilogram division, while Andy Granda (+100 kg) won the bronze medal after winning the playoff against Hungarian Richard Sipocz.
Silva defeated British Jamal Petgrave, Italian Nicholas Mungai and Hungarian Krisztian Toth in his key, which gave him direct access to the semifinals. In that instance, he beat the Brazilian Rafael Macedo and then, in the title discussion, he unseated the Georgian Luka Maisuradze.
The 26-year-old West Indian has been on the rise at the start of the season, finishing seventh at the Grand Slam in Paris in early February, and just two weeks later he won bronze in Tel Aviv, Israel. Now Silva has taken another leap with the gold medal in Turkey, the first of his career in Grand Slam events.
This was not the only joy for Cuba on Sunday, since Andy Grande he also stood on the podium in the +100 kilogram division. The 30-year-old Matanzas obtained his third bronze in Grand Slam, after winning in this same venue last year and in Paris two seasons ago.
Granda defeated the German Johannes Frey in his debut and then beat the Brazilian Juscelino Nascimento, but he could not pass the last test of his key against the Georgian Guram Tushishvili, who ultimately won the gold medal. Despite the setback, the Cuban did not lose momentum and in the repechage fights he beat the Uzbek Utkirbek Turoboyev and the Hungarian Richard Sipocz, to secure his bronze medal.
Cuba competed in the Antalya Grand Slam with 13 judokas, but only Silva and Granda managed to sneak into the top eight exponents of their respective divisions. Aleanny Carbonell (48 kg), Julio Delgado (60 kg), Héctor San Román (73), Magdiel Estrada (73) lost in their first match, while Melissa Hurtado (52), Arnaes Odelín (57), Idelannis Gómez (70), Thalia Nariño (+78), Orlando Polanco (66), Yasel Baeza (81) and Liester Cardona (100) got a victory, but lost in their second presentations.
More than 500 judokas from 63 countries competed at the Antalya Grand Slam, among which 23 won at least one medal. Georgia was the top performer with a pair of crowns and the same number of subtitles, while France also finished with two gold, one silver and four bronze medals.
Brazil (1-1-3), Hungary (1-1-1), Mongolia (1-1-0), Portugal (1-0-1), Cuba (1-0-1), Moldova (1-0 -1), Canada (1-0-0), Germany (1-0-0), Great Britain (1-0-0) and Chinese Taipei (1-0-0) rounded out the field of nations with at least a scepter
