The Cuban judokas Magdiel Estrada and Arnaes Odelín achieved the first victories for the Island at the World Judo Championship in Tashkent, Usbekistan, but ultimately failed to reach the podium.
After two days in which the representatives of Cuba always fell in their first match, Estrada (73 kg) managed to advance to the third round, although a defeat in that instance against the Canadian Arthur Margelidon prevented him from sneaking into the top eight.
Before, the silver medalist this year at the Zagreb Grand Prixhad defeated Ahmad Alikaj, from the refugee team, and the German Igor Wandtke, by ippon Y wazari respectively, but in search of the quarterfinals he received three penalties against him when fighting Margelidon, “in a fight extended into overtime and with options for both”, review the website Cubadebate.
Odelín, for his part, remained bye in the first round and then delivered a ippon to the Slovenian Kaja Kajzer, “in a very long fight extended until minute twelve, three times the regulation time”, points out the medium.
However, she then had to face the Israeli favorite Timna Nelson Levy, leader of the world ranking and current European champion, against whom she fell by penalty in the golden rule.
In this way, the medals continued to be elusive for the Island, which in the two previous dates had already suffered the defeats of Danny Porte (60 kg), Melissa Hurtado (52 kg) and Orlando Polanco (66 kg) in their initial presentations.
However, the main figures of Cuba have not yet made their appearance. For this Sunday, he is scheduled to climb Maylín del Toro (63 kg), while Iván Silva (90 kg) will do so on Monday and Kaliema Antomarchi (78 kg) on Tuesday.
The closing in the individual contests will be in charge of the stellar Idalis Ortiz (+78kg) on Wednesday, a day in which Omar Cruz and Andy Granda (+100 kg) will also fight.
At the moment, Japan is dominating the World Cup with four gold and three silver medals. Mongolia (1-1-1) and Brazil (1-0-1) also appear with at least one title, after the titles won this Saturday by the Mongolian Tsogtbaatar Tsend-Ochir (73 kg) and the Brazilian Rafaela Silva (75 kg).
More than 500 judokas from 82 countries participate in the Tashkent event and its closing is scheduled for Thursday with the dispute over the title of the mixed team event.
