Cuban Rafael Alba World Champion in Taekwondo in the 87 kg category

May 20, 2019

The Cuban Rafael Alba (+87 kg) won the gold medal on the final day of the World Taekwondo Championship, held in Manchester, England.

To achieve the honor at Manchester Arena, the 26-year-old giant had to compete in five matches. The fighter from Santiago did not believe in the level of any of his opponents, defeating American Jonathan Healy 14-9 points; by a margin of 20 units over Croatian Vedran Golec; and 16-9 against the first of the series, Korean Kyo-Don Ly, in the quarterfinals.

Already in the semifinals, he relied on intelligence, boldness and technique to defeat Brazilian Maicon Siqueira (bronze) 17-13, a performance that gave him the gold 9-5 in a tough match against Mexican Carlos Sansores, whom he defeated for the second time in the season.

Confirmed as the best Cuban taekwondoka today, Alba defied the curse that his other teammates experienced and placed Cuba among the top 10 nations of the championship.

With that gold Cuba ranked seventh in the medal count among men and eighth overall. It was also the best placement for America in Manchester 2019, and the only gold medal for the continental confederation, PATU by its English acronym.

In this way, Rafael expanded his medal count to two titles and the bronze won in Cheliabinsk 2015, which profiles him as one of the favorites for the Lima 2019 Pan American Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Almost a thousand athletes representing 150 countries attended the event.