RAFAEL Alba, gold medalist in the 87+ kg division at the recently concluded World Taekwondo Championships in Manchester, UK, stated in Havana that “This result is a great achievement of Cuban sport.
“With this performance I accumulate points for the Olympic ranking, and it allows me a more direct classification for Tokyo 2020. The event contributed to my preparation for the upcoming Pan American Games, in Lima, since there will be three or four world medalists from my division, so it will be of a high competitive level,” he added.
The athlete from Santiago, who will turn 26 on August 12, also secured the gold in the 2013 Puebla edition of the Championships, and the bronze in the 2015 Chelyabinsk edition. This time he climbed to the top of the podium for the first time in a new weight category.
Alba has been excelling since 2007, when he obtained his first gold medal in Cuba’s School Games, and from there he experienced a qualitative leap that led him to take the lead in the Veracruz 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, and in Barranquilla 2018. He also secured gold in the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, and the Pan-American Championship of this sport, held in Querétaro, Mexico, in 2016.
The President of the Cuban Taekwondo Federation, Iván Fernández, speaking to Jit, described this World Championship as one of the toughest in the history of this sport, as it was attended by all current world champions.
