Silva and Granda: bronze at Tashkent Grand Slam

Cuban judoka Ivan Silva (100 kilograms) and Andy Granda (over 100) won the bronze medal today at the Grand Slam in Tashkent, where Latin America only reached those two podiums.

On the closing day of the tournament, Silva, who already finished third in February at the Paris Grand Slam, beat Tajikistan's Dzhakhongir Madzhidov to complete his good performance.

The Cuban dominated China's Yijie Shen in his debut and Uzbekistan's Ernazar Sarsenbaev in the quarterfinals, in both cases by Ippon, before falling by Waza-ari in the semifinals against 23-year-old Russian Matvey Kanikovskiy, champion of the category.

For his part Granda, world titleholder here in 2022, opened with a win against Tajikistan's Mansur Rahmon in the quarterfinals, but fell in the semifinals also to a Russian, Denis Batchaev.

In the battle for the bottom of the podium the Cuban was better than the Estonian Marek-Adrian Masak.

The Brazilian Karol Gimenes could not reach the bronze, defeated by the Israeli Inbar Lanir in the 78.

The gold in the women's 78 went to China's Zhenzhao Ma, while in the over 78 her compatriot Xinran Niu won.

In the men's 90 kilograms, Uzbekistan's Shakhzodxuja Sharipov triumphed, with Russia winning in 100 and over 100 thanks to Kanikovskiy and Denis Batchaev, respectively.