Cuban judo will make the next stop on its competitive tour at the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv with the main objective of continuing the preparation of the athletes, coach Yordanis Arencibia said this Sunday, reported Prensa Latina.
The head of the technical group of the women’s team specified that the delegation will travel this Monday from Paris, where it participated in the Grand Slam last weekend, to the venue of the event, in which 324 judokas from 34 countries will compete from the 17th to the 19th of February.
The focus is still focused on preparation, sometimes some do not understand that it is a necessary process to think about the results, and our goal is in the Pan American Games in Lima, in April, qualifying for the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile-2023, he explained. the once stellar athlete, double Olympic bronze medalist and four times world champion.
According to Arencibia, the women’s squad is undergoing a process of renewal, especially in the lighter divisions, and is developing the journey without its two main figures, the legend Idalys Ortiz (over 78), Olympic and world multi-medallist, and the 78 kilograms Kaliema Antomarchi.
In the Paris Grand Slam, the six Cuban judokas who participated lost in their first fight: Aleanny Carbonell (48), Melissa Hurtado (52), Arnaes Odelín (57), Maylín del Toro (63), Idelannis Gómez (70) and Thalía Narino (over 78).
The men’s judo will also be in Tel Aviv with six athletes, headed by the 90 kilograms Iván Felipe Silva, universal runner-up in Baku-2018, who in this capital was the only representative of the island who advanced in his category until falling in the playoffs, at the gates of the discussion of one of the bronze medals.
The delegation will also include Julio Delgado (60), Orlando Polanco (66), Héctor San Román (73), Yasel Baeza (81) and Andy Granda (more than 100).
In the next stop of the world tour of the International Judo Federation, Cuba will be the second Latin American country in terms of competitors, with 12, only surpassed by Brazil (18), and ahead of Venezuela (five), Dominican Republic (two) , Chile (one) and Colombia (one).
