HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 30 (ACN) Cuban Idalis Ortiz, Olympic and world champion in 78 kilograms (kg), won the silver medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after losing the final to Japanese Akira Sone.
This was the fourth consecutive time Ortiz won a medal in Olympic games, after a bronze in Beijing 2008, gold in London 2012 and silver in Rio de Janeiro 2016.
After the bout Ortiz said that she was very happy to contribute to Cuban efforts in Tokyo, despite having had only two and half months to prepare, due to COVID and other issues.
In her first bout, the Cuban beat Portuguese Rochele Nunes by the golden rule of points, with a Waza-ari scored by Seoi-nage. Her second victory was against China’s Shiyan Xu. Ortiz won by Ippon, thanks to two Waza-ari, achieved with Seoi-nage (over-the-shoulder throw) and Tsuri-goshi (hip throw).
This week, Andy Granda (over 100 kg), Ivan Silva (90 kg), Maylin del Toro (63 kg) and Magdiel Estrada (73 kg) lost in the preliminary rounds and Kaliema Antomarchi (78 kg) in the repechage for the bronze medal.
