“The main objective of this competition was not only to be among the best powers in the world, but also in America, and we were the second country in the region after Brazil, so the objective was fulfilled,” he said in an interview with Prensa Latina before the return of the team to Havana.
The delegation from the island nation was made up of four female athletes and three male athletes, two coaches, a psychologist, a doctor and he, in his capacity as leader of the group, specified and highlighted the joint work that, according to what he said, allowed the results obtained. .
“We came home with a silver medal and two bronze medals in a tournament with strong competitors, the best,” he said.
In this regard, he explained that the silver medal was obtained by Omar Cruz, who fell in the heavyweight final against the Japanese Yuta Nakamura after defeating his previous rivals Kanan Nasibov (Azerbaijan), Jules Blom (Netherlands) and Christian Konoval ( USA). . by ippon. ).
One of the tans was on the shoulders of Kimy Bravo, in the 66-kilogram category, in which he fell to the Romanian Ioan Dzitac, after beating the Gabonese Fernand Nkero and the Kazakh Zhanarys Rakhmetkali.
The Cubans also climbed to the podium with the bronze of Idelannis Gómez (70 kilograms), who climbed ahead of the French Florine Soula and the Czech Julie Zarybnicka, but fell ahead of the German Samira Bock.
“Our beautiful Cuba could be among the 12 countries in the world ahead of first-rate powers,” he insisted.
In that sense, he added that the work in progress is prospective and is in reserve for future commitments in the coming years.
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Mendive highlighted the hard work done by the coaching groups and the athletes.
He also mentioned the support of the Cuban Judo Federation and the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation.
“Without this help we would not be celebrating one more victory for Cuba,” he concluded.
The Junior Judo World Cup brought together 373 athletes (208 men and 165 women) from 63 countries on five continents, in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil.
Japan topped the medal table with six gold medals, followed by France, Turkey, Italy, Uzbekistan, Spain, the Netherlands, Moldova and Tajikistan with one each.
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