Cuban judokas continue being eliminated early in Grand Slam

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 18 (ACN) Of the four Cuban judokas today at the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv, Israel, only two passed the first bout, although they lost the second, a pattern in the four days of competition this season in two stops of the world circuit.

Maylin del Toro, an experienced two-time Pan American champion, scored an Ippon in 1:25 minutes of fighting in the 63 kilogram (kg) category against 19-year-old Kazakh Samalay Yergaliyeva, runner-up of the Asian Junior Cup in 2021, but fell later by the same way in 2:09 minutes to Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo last July 24.

Idelannis Gomez (70 kg) was declared the winner over 21-year-old Israeli Maya Goshen, who was disqualified after receiving three Shido (warnings).

Then Gomez, after being determined against the German Miriam Butkereit, was left in a very vulnerable position, which the European took advantage of to throw the Cuban backwards and win by Ippon when the timer showed only 41 seconds.

Hector San Roman (73) lost suddenly by Waza-ari in Golden Rule (overtime) to German veteran Igor Wandtke, in no less than 7:59 minutes, when both were close to disqualification with two Shido.

Finally, Yasel Baeza (81) was defeated by Ippon in 1:52 minutes by Frenchman Nicolas Chilard, who, like German Wandtke, has no notable results.

Tomorrow, Saturday, in the closing of the tournament will compete Thalia Nariño (over 78), Ivan Silva (90) and Andy Granda (over 100).

Silva was the only one to win in the beginning of the season at the Grand Slam of Paris, and plans to participate in the Grand Slam of Tbilisi, Georgia (March 25-27); and Antalya, Turkey (April 1-3).