Omar Cruz took in his hands the organizational chart of the more than 100 kilograms (kg) of the Junior Judo World Cup that is taking place these days in Ecuador and squeezed it, gave him almost an ippon to advance round after round until the title discussion. The Cuban looked impressive on the tatami and only saw his hopes dashed in the final against the Japanese Yuta Nakamura.
In short, the Creole hung the silver medal around his neck, a metal that —excuse the commonplace— has a taste of glory, of gold, and incidentally it is the best performance of a Cuban judoka in the universal event that takes place to date. today in Guayaquil.
This result launches him into the world elite, although he already dominated the continent, given his crown at the first edition of the Junior Pan American Games in Cali at the end of last year. This accumulation of merits swells, at his young age, the curriculum of an athlete who in a short time should become a reference figure in the heavy divisions of men’s judo in the Greater Antilles.
Cruz did not have to fight in the first round as he was exempted due to his favorable position in the ranking. Then, in his debut on the Guayaquil tatami, he defeated the Azerbaijani Kanan Nasibov by the ippon fast track, to later secure his presence in the semifinals against the Dutchman Jules Blom, also by wazari-awasete-ippon.
In the medal discussion phase, he disposed of the American Christian Konoval due to an accumulation of cautions, before his only setback, in the gold medal match against the strong Japanese opponent, who beat him by ippon.
The other Cuban who saw activity on the last day of individual competitions of the Junior World Cup, Dayanara Curbelo, came out victorious in her initial fight against the Georgian Ana Sherazadishvili, but in the second outing to the mattress she was defeated by the Turkish Hilal Ozturk, to the dessert runner-up of the division in the important event developed in Ecuadorian lands.
