Cuban Andy Granda was proclaimed champion in the +100 kilogram division of the Tashkent Judo World CupUzbekistan, by defeating the Japanese Tatsuro Saito in a fight that lasted until 6:24 minutes.
According to the note of the state sports media Jit30-year-old Granda from Matanzas did not have an easy road to the first and only gold medal achieved by a Cuban representative in the world tournament. In his first match, which went beyond regulation time, he had to go all out to defeat Hungarian Richard Sipocz, by waza-ari.
His next rival, the Austrian Daniel Allerstorfer, bronze medalist in the 2019 European championship and multiple medalist in Grand Prix tournaments, turned out to be easier in the end. Granda scored a waza-ari on him in the very first minute of the fight and an ippon at 3:18.
In the quarterfinals, the Cuban judoka found the first hard nut to crack in the Georgian Guram Tushishviliworld champion in Baku 2018 and second in the world ranking.
Caution, at the height of 45 seconds of combat, cost each one a warning for passivity. Granda was the first to react, with an ippon, 20 seconds later.
In the semifinals, Dutchman Roy Meyer, bronze medalist in the 2019 and 2021 world championships, and in the 2017 and 2022 European tournaments, awaited him. The track record and experience of this opponent forced the Cuban to be cautious, which brought him two penalties and placed him on the verge of disqualification for hansoku-make.
Granda had no choice but to risk an attack, which resulted in a waza-ari at 3:10. The advantage was not definitive, remaining almost a minute of combat and with two shidos against, so the Cuban had to continue attacking and, two seconds before the end, he landed a second waza-ari.
Waiting for him in the final was the 20-year-old Japanese Tatsuro Saito, who already has several titles such as the Baku Grand Slam in 2021, in addition to several gold medals in youth championships, and came out as the favorite.
For the second time in the competition, Cuban Granda had to fight beyond regulation time, in which neither of the two judokas managed to score and both received shidos. However, the representative of Cuba exhibited better physical shape and showed fewer signs of fatigue than his rival, who received the second and third penalties in minutes five and six.
Thus, the Cuban won by handsoku-make, officially ipponand won his first world medal, which added to the title achieved at the Pan American Games in Lima in 2019.
Granda’s gold, the only medal of the Cuban delegation in the World Cup, put the Island in the top-ten of the competition. The best result of the Cuban team so far was the fifth place achieved by Iván Silva in the 91 kilograms.
On this occasion, the Olympic champion and two-time monarch of the world, Idalis Ortiz (+78kg) could not access the podium.
In her first two fights, the Cuban world and Olympic multi-medallist defeated the Georgian Sophio Somkhishvili and the Mongolian representative, Adiyasuren Amarsaikhan. But in the quarterfinals, she was disqualified for shidos against Brazilian Beatriz Souza, and then Israel’s Raz Hershko in the playoffs. The champion of the division was the French Romane Dicko, who beat Souza in the final.
The competition was dominated by Japan with five gold, four silver and three bronze medals, followed by Brazil (2-1-1) and Uzbekistan (2-0-0). The other countries that won at least one title were Mongolia, Croatia, Georgia, France and Cuba, which finished in eighth place.
