Iván Silva’s gold medal (90 kg) at the Grand Slam in Antalya, Turkey, confirms him as the best Cuban judoka, winning by ippon in just over four minutes of combat several of his opponents.
The first to fall was the Spanish Tristan Moskhlvili, at 04:30 minutes of competition; which was followed by the same result in 04:45 of combat against the British Jamal Petgrave, to round off his perfect performance against the Italian Nicholas Mungai, in a time of 04:40 minutes.
The Hungarian Khistian Toth, third in the ranking World Cup, he was the only one who escaped Silva’s highest score on the tatami. Already in the semifinal match he won by ippon the Brazilian Rafael Macedo, in a duel extended to the golden rule, and for the golden metal he applied the same medicine to the Georgian Luka Maisuradze.
The bronze medals went to Toth and Macedo, in a division that had 46 competitors. For Silva, who has been part of the delegation of judokas who trained in France since February, this crowned his good performance in the season, because in the Grand Slam in Paris, the first match of the year, he was the only Cuban who disputed a bronze, to remain finally fifth.
In another relevant performance, Andy Granda won a bronze award. After having beaten the German Johannes Frei and the Brazilian Juscelino Nascimento, he fell by wazari against the Georgian Guram Tushishvili. At repechage he won the fight against the Hungarian Richard Sipocz.
The head coach of the men’s team, Julio Alderete, observing the unremarkable results in his previous competitions, told Granma that “there is no reason to feel disappointed. The boys were in France to pave the way and get in shape heading to the Pan American Championships in Lima this month.” At the moment the first category tournament is being held.
