Havana, Jul 14 (EFE) .- A group of the Cuban sports delegation that will compete in the next Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games traveled to the Japanese capital on Wednesday, the island’s media reported.
The delegation is led by Olympic champions, the fighter Mijaín López, standard-bearer of the delegation, and the judoka Idalys Ortiz, two of the island’s medal hopes.
Ortiz, defender of the division of more than 78 kilograms, declared before leaving her intention to reach her fourth medal in the summer competition with the premise that her greatest rival is herself, although she said that she does not underestimate any opponent.
Also featured in the group are boxing champions Julio César La Cruz (91 kg) and Arlen López (81), London 2012 monarch Roniel Iglesias (69) and two-time universal starter Andy Cruz (63).
It also includes competitors from table tennis, swimming, artistic gymnastics, weightlifting, and other classifieds from sports shooting and judo, along with coaches, commissioners of the disciplines represented in the group of competitors, medical personnel and the Cuban press accredited for the event.
His arrival in Tokyo is scheduled for next July 16 to serve a three-day quarantine as part of the protocols required by the Japanese authorities against the covid-19 pandemic.
Athletes from the athletics, canoeing and wrestling specialties will travel to Tokyo directly from preparation bases they have made in Europe.
Cuba will participate in the Japanese Olympic event with 69 athletes who will participate in 64 of the 339 events called by the organizers, 31 of them for men and the same number for women and two mixed.
Cuba’s Olympic tickets are divided into athletics, with 18, followed by wrestling specialties (12), boxing (7) and judo (6).
Complete the list, canoeing (5), shooting (5), weightlifting (4), table tennis (2), beach volleyball (2), swimming (2), modern pentathlon (2), taekwondo (1 ), artistic gymnastics (1), cycling (1) and rowing (1).
The Cubans go to Tokyo with the aspiration of keeping their country among the top 20 nations of the medal table and surpass the 5 golds on the podium.
Cuba has participated in 20 editions of the Olympic Games represented by a total of 1,713 athletes who have competed in 29 disciplines and as a result it has won 71 gold, 65 silver and 66 bronze medals, with boxing as the flagship sport.
In the Olympics in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016, Cubans won medals in 12 sports and half achieved titles: 10 were for boxing, 5 were for wrestling, 3 for athletics and one for judo , baseball and shooting.
At the Games in Rio de Janeiro, the Cuban delegation was made up of 123 athletes who accumulated 11 medals (5 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze). EFE
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