Cuban judo had to the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador the steady goal of improving what was done five years ago in Barranquilla 2018.

That's nothing new, and it happens in all sports, but we're talking that in the Colombian city the general medals of Cuba was eight golden metals, three silver and six bronze, distributed in the individual event (6-3-6) and (2-0-0) in the men's and women's team events.

From the start, this time two sets of team medals were not awarded, but only one, with mixed teams, so the struggle was hard.

Even so, our representatives in judo showed a very high level and finally closed with nine medals, three silvers, and two third places.

The harvest could have been even better, because Maylín del Toro was the heavy favorite in the 63 kg division and she lost in the final bout. This is not by far a complain of sorts for the girl, because no one is perfect.

Especially outstanding were Arnaes Odelín, Magdiel Estrada and the multi-champion Idalys Ortiz, who remained undefeated in her individual event and they also won in their team presentations, where, by the way, Maylín had her revenge.

Our judokas overcame the downsides they had, sporadic, but nothing negligible, and at the moment they are the main responsible for the Cuban position in the general medal score.

The total of 14 medals out of 15 possible indicates clearly that only in a category was not able to climb the podium, and that is something of great merit too.

Just to show an example, Colombia, which is currently the great power in the region in weightlifting, didn’t win in three divisions, and we're talking about six medal possibilities, not just one like Cuba lacked.

The Cuban gold medals were equally divided between men and women, a sign that good work is being done. Judo marks the way, let’s see who follows it in San Salvador.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff