Cuba will debut today with nine judokas on the first day of the senior individual tournament of the Pan American and Oceania Championshipbased until tomorrow in Lima Peru.
According to the draw published on the website of the International Federation www.ijf.org Of the 10 Cubans scheduled for this first day with action in the 48, 52, 57 and 63 kilograms (kg) for women, and 60, 66 and 73 kg for men, one of the 63 does not appear among the 16 drawn.
Venessa Godínez (48 kg) will have Argentinian Keisy Perafan as her first rival, Melissa Hurtado (52 kg) will open against Peruvian Mirian Flores and Arnaes Odelín (57 kg) will have to wait for the winner between Dominican Clara Barinas and Chilean Sasha Munoz.
The women’s list is completed by Yusmari Reyes (63 kg), who will start against the American Sara Golden, while Thailen Castillo, one of the 18 judokas announced to travel to Lima, is absent from the organization chart.
The men who will go up to the tatamis are Danny Porte and Julio Delgado (60 kg) and will have as their first opponents the Ecuadorian Bryan Garboa and the Venezuelan Iván Salas, respectively.
Also looking for victories will be Orlando Polanco (66 kg) and Magdiel Estrada and Héctor San Román (73 kg), who will fight with Ecuadorian Juan Ayala, Panamanian Ronal González and Australian Jake Bensted, in that order.
Tomorrow, Saturday, the last date of the individual, will be the day with the greatest chances of medals for Cuba with Idelannis Gómez (70 kg), Madelines Gorguet (78 kg) and Thalia Nariño and Naomis Elizardo (+78 kg).
The mixed team tournament is scheduled for Sunday, with action in the 57, 70, +70 (f), 73, 90 and +90 kg (m).
The Lima contest is the first of four that distribute points for qualifying for the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile 2023, and according to www.ijf.org217 judokas -121 men and 96 women- from 24 countries will participate, under strict compliance with sanitary measures by COVID-19.
Brazil, with 502 medals, divided into 182 gold, 153 silver and 167 bronze medals, leads the historical medal table of the Pan American Championships, followed by Cuba (383/182-86-115) and the United States (319/71- 86-162), respectively.
