Judo Carnival in Varadero: between ippones and tourism
By: Duanys Hernández Torres
The second edition of the Judo Carnival will once again be hosted at the Varadero International Hotel. This tournament is made up of the highlight of the event: the Judo Open in the senior category, as well as the Ronaldo Veitía Cup, in the children’s, cadet and youth categories.
Once again, the initiative to repeat the event in a covered facility inside one of Varadero’s iconic hotels is a great boost to tourism, so that athletes and families from various countries can arrive.
The second edition of the Varadero Open will have 130 competitors, divided into 77 men and 53 women. Judokas from ten countries and two continents will participate. The nations represented will be Canada, Costa Rica, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Poland, Puerto Rico, the United States and Cuba.
The most populated divisions will be the men’s 81 kg, with 17 competitors, and the women’s 57 kg, with 12. Cuba registered 79 judokas, followed by 21 Americans and 11 Canadians.
The only European athlete who will compete is the 22-year-old Polish Sobierajska Katarzina in the 70 kilograms, 31st in the world ranking, and with bronze in a junior world championship in 2021, and gold in the European junior championship of the same year.
Among the most outstanding judokas on the American continent are Sairy Colón of the 70 kg and Isabelle Harris, of the 63 kilo, both runners-up at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, as well as Camila Figueroa bronze in the 78 kilo at Santiago 2023.
For men, the Canadian David Popovici stands out, bronze in 81 kilograms in Santiago 2023, as well as the American Alexander Knauf, bronze also in the Chilean capital, but in 90 kilos. Another bronze in the Chilean event was Arath Juárez in the 60 kilos, and the Tica Diana Brenes bronze in Lima 2019.
The senior event will take place between the 4th and 5th, while the Ronaldo Veitía Cup will take place on the 6th and 7th. One of the most important activities of the Open will be the official retirement ceremony of the Olympic runners-up Yanet Bermoy and Yalennis Castillo.
For future events it would be pertinent to increase participation, especially of judokas from the Old Continent that would further prestige a competition with an ideal setting.
The Varadero International Hotel will once again dress in its best clothes to give away a great event between ippones and tourism. At the same time, the boxing poster between Cuba and France will take place at the Hotel Brisas del Caribe, as well as the international Greco-Roman wrestling camp.
Sports tourism in Cuba is booming. The Varadero 2024 Judo Carnival in the coming days will be the best example of the communion between these two spheres.
2024-04-04 02:00:40
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