Dayanara Curbelo bathes Cuba in gold in Asunción

August 13, 2025

Dayanara Curbelo looked impressive from her first fight in the over 78 kg category in judo, and that's exactly how the competition ended. It was known long before that the gold medal of her division could return to her neck, but few calculated that hers would be the first gold medal for the Greater Antilles at the 2025 Asunción Junior Pan American Games. Both things came true today.

Her opponent in the final was Chilean Kharla Casas, a somewhat unexpected rival but one that equally deserved caution. However, Dayanara barely retreated. A grip, a sweep, a feint, strength, technique, and little by little she became queen on the tatami.

So much so that her rival barely had initiative and received, one after another, the three shidos that decreed the end of the fight. Then came the held-back tears.

“Thanks to everyone. To my family, to the Cuban judo family, to everyone who supported me and believed in me and also to my teammates. They did very well too”, she assured.

— This is a historic division for Cuba. Figures like Idalys Ortiz or Daime Beltrán prestige it. What does it mean to follow that tradition?

— Many champions are an example to follow. When I joined the national team Idalys was still there, and she is my most recent example. While we shared the team I took many good things from her, so I want to follow that story”, she confessed.

The path of Cuba's flag bearer in the opening ceremony was marked by two other victories. The first by no-show, and the second in less than a minute thanks to her power in ground work.

With this success, at 19 years old Dayanara crowns a year where she is also holder of the Junior Pan American Championship of the discipline and the Pan American Cup, two events that gradually consolidate her as the leading figure of the division in the country.

In turn, she brings Cuba to third place in the medal count at the close of the individual tournament in this sport, with one title, one silver and another bronze medal. Brazil, the great powerhouse of the continent, dominated the sport with eleven crowns, one runner-up and two third places, followed by Colombia with one gold, two silvers and four bronzes.

In Cali-Valle 2021 the Island said goodbye to judo with a pair of golds, the same amount of silvers and three bronzes.