Empty-handed again in South Korea

Things have not gone well for Cubans at Taekwondo World Championships in South Korea, country where this martial art was created. After the beginning of this sport discipline in Cuba, that country has held three world events (the three in this century), and the largest Antillean island has never made it to the podium there.

A revealing fact, should one take into account that since we attend these competitions regularly, we’ve only come empty-handed at these world events in South Korea, because no Cuban climbed the awards podiums at the World Taekwondo Championships in Jeju (2001), Gyeongju (2011) and now Muju (2017).

The most significant result was precisely the one attained this year, because we attended the event with a large 8-member delegation (four per sex), and the athlete who reached the farthest into the contest was Robelis Despaigne (+87kg), who fell in quarterfinals. In addition, it’s worth recognizing that 73kg Glenys Hernandez returned to World Championships after completing a two-year sanction and lost to the would-be champion, Serbian Milica Mandic, by a tight 5-6.

Below expectations was Rafael Alba (87kg), who opened with a 25-4 win vs. Indian Akshay Hooda and then lost 11-14 to Iranian Saeid Rajabi, an opponent within his reach for his competitive level.

Before departing to Asian soil, the coaching staff of the men’s squad declared they expected more than one medal in the competition, but results did not back them.

Moreover, since they didn’t advance enough there, they could not get points for the world ranking, which is vital for their hopes to pick important achievements at the next Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The appropriate analyses will be made at home, but this time it did not become known there were significant changes in the regulation, as has happened on previous occasions, and that we always fail to accept the lack of international competition.

It is not good news either in times of economic shortages, where allocating every penny is weighed up very well, and when the expected results are not achieved; unfortunately, little can entail nothing.

Translated by Jorge Mesa Benjamin / Cubasi Translation Staff