If I was asked before the beginning of the world wrestling championship Belgrade 2023 which would be the best performances of Cuba, the Greco-Roman style gladiator Gabriel Rosillo would not have been on that list.

He didn’t have the least possibilities in the delegation, but at least in his modality I would have put Yosvany Peña before him, taking into account the results that supported each of them. Even the young Kevin de Armas had better chances to fight for the ticket to the Olympic Games of Paris 2024 in his division.

However, although some won’t believe it, I am pleased to make this mistake, after watching Rosillo finally get a worthy performance by winning the world gold in the 97 kgs.

His performance was excellent throughout the competition, where defeated teh best in his category, to endorse the conditions that specialists saw in him since his victory in the 2019 Wordl Junior Wrestling Championship.

Furthermore a winning comeback, because let’s not forget that the Pan-American and Central American winner was not in the last World Championship because he suffered teh corona virus and lost a lot of training time.

This performance reminds me of the recent past with Ismael Borrero and Luis Orta, coincidentally both of Greco Wrestling, and in similar weight. Borrero was not even a Pan-American champion when in 2015 he won the gold medal in the world championship, and from then on he was practically unstoppable. Orta was a perfect stranger until Tokyo 2020 and now he is the man to defeat.

The performance of the athlete from Santiago de Cuba was considered among the great surprises of the World Cup, together with the Iranian Amir Mirzazadeh, who also defeated the great favorite in his category, the Turk Riza Kayaalp, but Mirzazadeh had already won a title .

However, I hope his performance at the Stark Arena is not just a fleeting state of grace, but the push of trust that he needed to really believe that he is among the best of the planet.

As for the rest of the team it’s essential to highlight Orta, again unique, and Oscar Pino, which was ratified among the best super-heavy in the world and won the space to defend in Paris by the exceptional Mijaín López.

Likewise, the performance of Milaimys Marín, the other who already guaranteed his presence in Paris , although he did in the last second, in the match for the last ticket.

Really poor performance for teh free-style wrestling, with defeats in the first presentations of all our representatives, a sign that a generational change is already needed, although logically the proximity of Paris prevents it.

For those who could not get the ticket now there are continental tournaments and a world qualifier next year.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff