Gymnast Diorges Escobar wins silver at Cairo World Cup

February 19, 2024

Cuban gymnast Diorges Escobar won the silver medal on Saturday in the floor exercise event at the 2024 Cairo World Cup of Artistic Gymnastics in Egypt.

Escobar obtained a score of 13.900 points that was only surpassed by South Korean Sunghyun Ryu (14.070), reported the official JIT.

The athlete from Espíritu Santo maintained the difficulty rating from the elimination round (5.5), the most modest among the eight finalists, but an execution without penalties was enough for him to reach the podium, the information states.

"We are all very happy. He worked very well and achieved one of the objectives we have set for ourselves," said Pedro Pablo Barrios, the national commissioner of this discipline, to JIT.

With this result, Escobar is in an advantageous position in the world ranking of the apparatus with a view to the objective of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

"He felt in very good spirits and that is key because of his personality. On Friday he could not advance to the finals in the high bar or parallel bars, and he knew that this floor exercise final was his opportunity," Barrios said about Escobar's performance.

The upcoming stops for Cuba's best current gymnast on the world cup circuit will be in Cottbus, Germany (February 22-25) and Doha, Qatar (April 17-20).

After the Doha event, it will be known if the Cuban will be able to compete at the Olympic Games.