Ten names to consider in the Judo World Championship

With less than 50 days until the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 finally begin, in 2021, Hungary today hosts the World Championship of one of the most representative sports in Japan: judo. The victories of its national judokas (144 world titles and 346 Olympic medals) are almost three times that of France, the next country on the list with the highest number of medals.

This martial art, which focuses on the agility of athletes, was premiered in the 1964 Olympic competitions, during the first Games that precisely hosted the country and the Japanese capital. It would not be until Barcelona 1992, however, when the female category was introduced.

The Hungarian capital, Budapest, welcomes a total of 684 competitors from 127 countries until June 13. The event, which will be held at the Papp László Sports Arena, welcomes a dozen key Latin American figures in this martial art. Two countries, Spain and Cuba, largely share this quota of judokas to take into account, which compete in various categories based on their weight and gender.

Below we review nine weight categories -there are 13 in total- and some outstanding Spanish-speaking athletes who will try to score points to win a place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in 2021:

-60 kg male:

Fran Garrigós (Spain)

The Spanish judoka entered the national team in 2008, when he was only 14 years old. Since then his progression has been constant, and he made his debut at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016. This year he won his first gold at the European Championship in Prague.

The athlete, who recognizes in an interview for the newspaper ABC that his parents signed him up to this sport as a child so that he would “stand still”, he does not travel alone to Tokyo. His partner is the athlete Ana Pérez Box (Alicante, Spain) also points to the largest sports event in Japan.

-66 kg males:

Alberto Gaitero (Spain)

At 24 years old, Gaitero is in his stage of consecration in the absolute category. The Valladolid judoka was runner-up in the world and European bronze in the junior category, and in 2021 he is reaping great results: he won gold at the Tel Aviv Grand Prix, silver in Antalya, bronze in the European Championship held in Lisbon.

In addition, it is the ranked eighth in the world ranking and first Spanish.

Piper got on a tatami for the first time when he was only five years old. His mother was looking for a sport in which her son would expend all his spare energy and chose judo, a sport in which he is now trying to make a dent in the elite.

-90 males:

Niko Sherazadishvili (Espaa)

A migrant of Georgian origin and raised in Spain, Niko Sherazadishvili is the first male judoka to achieve gold in a World Judo Championship. All eyes are on him to see if he will be able to repeat his feat this summer at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Iván Silva (Cuba)

One of the leading figures on the Latin American judo scene, Silva (Matanzas, Cuba) won bronze at the 2015 Junior World Cup, silver at the 2018 World Cup and this week in Hungary he will try to climb the missing podium step.

After the hiatus from the pandemic, Silva returned to action at the Pan American Championship at the end of 2020 to take gold for the fourth consecutive year, and currently occupies the sixth position in the world rankings.

+100 kg males:

Andy Granda (Cuba)

Despite being born four years before her partner, the 29-year-old Granda’s sports career parallels that of Iván Silva, as both have participated in practically the same tournaments since 2014.

The Caribbean man assured in this interview for the Cuban News Agency who will chase the gold this summer, although at the same time he recognizes that the situation due to the coronavirus pandemic has been able to weigh down his training possibilities.

-48 kg for women:

Julia Figueroa (Spain)

The Spanish athlete, originally from the Andalusia region, is another candidate to be an Olympic medalist after her debut on the biggest sporting stage in the 2016 Rio Games. Her meteoric career began when she was only four years old, thanks that his school offered this extracurricular activity.

To this day, it is the sixth judoka in its category in the world ranking , just behind Argentine Olympic champion Paula Pareto.

-52 kg for women:

Ana Pérez (Spain)

The last Spanish judoka on the list shares a coach with her partner Julia Figueroa, since both trained together in the same gym in the city of Valencia. Is the number 12th in the world ranking and the seventh in the list of participants in the category of his weight in the World Cup.

Pérez masters techniques such as Tai Otoshi, Ouchi Gari or Koshi Ghuruma, and has great power and lower body stability, which allows her to be very fast in short distances.

-63 kg for women:

Maylin Del Toro (Cuba)

Like her male companions, Del Toro is a regular winner of the Pan American Judo Tournament, in her case with two victories in the last decade. In 2018 he finished in fifth position in the World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan, following in the footsteps of his teammate Iván Silva.

At the moment, it occupies the 11th position in the world ranking and it is the eighth in the list of participants of its category in the World Championship.

-78 kg for women:

Kaliema Antomarchi (Cuba)

Another regular at the Pan American Games, in this case with victories since 2009. Antomarchi won a bronze at the 2017 World Cup, which was also precisely held in Budapest. She is the sixth best classified in this category for the World Championship.

The middle Cubadebate recounts how Antomarchi, born in Santiago de Cuba, came to judo because she wanted to break bricks with her hands after seeing martial discipline on a television program.

+78 kg for women:

Idalys Ortiz (Cuba)

Idalys Ortiz is one of the greatest representatives of Latin American judo at a global level, and her first place in the world ranking ratifies it.

As does his record: he has seventeen golds in the Pan-American Games, eight medals in the World Championships and one gold, one silver and one bronze achieved at the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, London 2021 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Looking ahead to Tokyo 2020, she is again the main favorite to achieve the gold medal.

How to follow the Judo World Championship:

When: The Judo World Cup takes place from June 6 to 13, 2021.

Where: Budapest (Hungary).

How to follow the competition: The International Judo Federation will publish the results live through its Web page .

Participants: 684 judokas, from 127 different nations, will meet in Budapest.

When do Spanish and Latino athletes compete:

June 6th:

M -48: Julia Figueroa (ESP), Laura Martínez (ESP), Gabriela Chibana (BRA), Mary Dee Vargas (CHL), Keisy Perafan (ARG), Luz Alvarez (COL), Brillith Gamarra (PER)

H -60: Fran Garrigós (ESP), Eric Takabatake (BRA), Lenin Preciad (ECU), Steven Morocho (ECU), Dilmer Calle (PER), José Ramos (GUA), Luis Montes (NCA)

June 7th:

M -52: Larissa Pimenta (BRA), Ana Pérez Box (ESP), Estrella López Sheriff (ESP), Luz Olvera (MEX), Kristine Jiménez (PAN)

H -66: Alberto Gaitero (ESP), Juan Postigos (PER), Orlando Polanco (CUB), Daniel Pérez (ESP), Tal Almog (ARG), Wander Mateo (DOM), Ian Sancho (CRC), Juan Hernández (COL )

8 of June:

M -57: Miryam Roper (PAN), Ketelyn Nascimento (BRA), Arnaes Odelin (CUB)

H -73: Magdiel Estrada (CUB), Eduardo Barbosa (BRA), Alonso Wong (PER), Gilberto Cardoso (MEX), Salvador Cases (ESP), Julián Sancho (CRC)

June 9:

M -63: Ketleyn Quadros (BRA), Maylin del Toro (CUB), Anriquelis Barrios (VEN), Alexia Castilhos (BRA), Prisca Awiti (MEX), Estefanía García (ECU), Cristina Cabaña (ESP), Isabel Puche ( ESP)

H -81: Eduardo Santos (BRA), Adrián Gandía (PUR), Guilherme Schimidt (BRA), Medickson del Orbe (DOM), Emmanuel Lucenti (ARG), Luis Ángeles (PER), Alfonso Urquiza (ESP), Alain Aprahamian ( URU), José María Mendiola (ESP), Rodrigo Gamou (URU)

June 10th:

M -70: Maria Portela (BRA), Elvismar Rodríguez (VEN), María Bernabéu (ESP), María Pérez (PUR)

H -90: Niko Shera (ESP), Iván Felipe Silva (CUB), Rafael Macedo (BRA), Robert Florentino (DOM), Yuta Galarreta (PER), Francisco Balanta (COL), José Luis Ortega (PAN)

11th of June:

M -78: Kaliema Antomarchi (CUB), Mayra Aguiar (BRA), Vanessa Chala (ECU), Karen León (VEN), Lucía Cantero (ARG)

H -100: Rafael Buzacarini (BRA), Leonardo Gonçalves (BRA), Thomas Briceno (CHL)

June 12:

M +78: Idalys Ortiz (CUB), Maria Suelen Altheman (BRA), Beatriz Souza (BRA), Melissa Mojica (PUR), Sara Álvarez (ESP), Yuliana Bolívar (PER), Izayana Marenco (NCA)

H +100: Rafael Silva (BRA), David Moura (BRA), Andy Granda (CUB)

And then? The judo competition in Tokyo 2020:

Subjects: In addition to the usual competition, there will be a mixed team competition for the first time in the history of the Games. Here you will find all the information you need about Olympic judo for Tokyo 2020.

Participants: a total of 386 athletes (193 men, and 193 women) will be classified, and approximately 28 judokas will compete in each category (there are seven categories per branch). Each country can have only one athlete per category.

Headquarters: Judo will take place at the Nippon Budokan, which also hosted the sport’s events at the 1964 Olympics.

Calendar: Judo will take place from July 24 to July 31, 2021, with the mixed team event scheduled for the last day. Here you can find the complete calendar of this sport.