CUBAN judokas José Armenteros and Iván Silva, won gold and silver respectively on the final day of competition of the Minsk Judo Open, in Belarus, second stop on the Cuban Men’s team’s current European tour.
Armenteros, Chelyabinsk 2014 World Championship silver medalist in the 100kg division, demonstrated his skill winning four fights, the fist three by ippon and the last by yuko, in the final bout for the gold against Russian Niiaz Bilalov.
The judoka from Cienfuegos defeated local Viktar Larchanka, followed by Slovakian Matej Hajas - his opponents being disqualified on both occasions – and Estonian Grigori Minaskin in the semifinal.
Silva also performed well after winning his first four bouts, although he was defeated in the 81kg final by Egyptian Mohamed Abdelaal, 3:39 minutes into the match.
The young athlete from Matanzas beat Russia’s Viktar Kliavusau, also by ippon; Valdimir Zoloev from Kyrgyzstan, by shido; local Ivan Vorobev by ippon and Iranian Saeid Mollaei by yuko in the semifinals.
Lastly, Alex García, leader of group “D”, fell in extra time of his semifinal match by yuko against veteran Abdullo Tangriev from Uzbekistan, and was quickly defeated in the bout for the bronze by Michal Horak from Czechoslovakia.
With 34 nations competing, France dominated the country medal chart with four gold, one silver, and three bronze medals, followed by Germany (3-3-4) and Cuba (1-2-1).
The island placed second in the Men’s category, behind France (3-0-0) and preceding Germany (1-0-2), Kyrgyzstan (1-0-1) and Egypt (1-0-0).
