Gold medal in Budapest for judoka Idalys Ortiz

August 13, 2018

Cuban Olympic champion Idalys Ortiz conquered the gold medal at the Budapest Grand Prix Judo tournament in Hungary, the only one obtained by the delegation of ten Cubans present at the event.

Idalys Ortiz was crowned in over 78 kg on the final day of the Budapest Grand Prix, with victory for the title over Belarusian Maryna Slutskaya by Wazari.

On her debut, the Caribbean fighter defeated Ukrainian Galyna Tarasova by Ippon, then defeated Dutch Tessie Savelkouls by three penalties, and in the same manner in the semifinals against Turkish Nihel Cheik Rouhou.

Idalys's title was the only one achieved by Cuba in this tournament, where Iván Silva secured the other medal for the island, a bronze in 90 kg.

Silva found no rivals that could match him in preliminaries, and defeated American Matthew Koch, Japanese Yusuke Kobayashi, and Estonian Klen Kristofer Kaljulaid.

However, he fell in pursuit of the semifinals against Serbian Aleksandar Kukolj by Wazari, and made up for the defeat afterward against the number one ranked, Belarusian Yahor Varapayeou, and with Spanish Nikoloz Sherazadishvili to secure his medal in the repechage.

In other results of the day, Asley González finished seventh in the same division after losing in his second bout. Kaliema Antomarchi obtained a fifth place in 78 kg after losing by Ippon in the quarterfinals against Japanese Mami Umeki, the eventual champion. In the fight for bronze, she was dominated by the second-ranked in the world, Dutch Guusje Steenhius.

The other Cuban who competed this Sunday, Andy Granda, lost in his second appearance against Russian Tamerlan Bashaev.

Japan dominated this Grand Prix widely, with 9 gold medals and 4 silvers, while Hungary was second with 2 titles and 2 bronzes. Russia, with 1-1-1, Cuba, fourth place with 1-0-1, and Brazil, with 1-0-0, completed the distribution of titles.