Cuba finished the opening day of the Pan American Judo Open in Gainesville, Florida, with two gold medals and two silver medals, placing second in the country standings behind Venezuela. Jonathan Charón in the 60-kilogram division and Orlando Polanco in the 66-kilogram category secured the titles on Saturday, October 31, while Lianet Cardona and Dayanara Curbelo added runner-up finishes to round out the day’s podium results for the delegation.

Extra-time victories secure gold for Charón and Polanco

Both Cuban champions needed extra time to claim their respective finals at the tournament venue. Charón defeated Brazil’s Michel Augusto by hansoku-make, while Polanco overcame fellow Brazilian Joao Lira with a yuko score during golden score rules. Before reaching the final, Polanco advanced through three ippon victories against Canadian competitors Daniel McCristall, Eliandre Barriault-Tremblay, and Luke Thomson. Charón opened his tournament path via a walkover against United States representative Héctor Sánchez, followed by a yuko win over Colombia’s Johan Rojas and a semifinal victory over Canada’s Xavier Brouillette. That semifinal required a comeback after Brouillette scored a waza-ari, which the Cuban judoka answered with an equal score and a decisive yuko.

Cardona and Curbelo capture silver medals

In the 78-kilogram category, Cardona secured her spot in the final by defeating local competitor Lydia Coleman before falling to Venezuela’s Elvismar Rodríguez, who scored two waza-ari techniques. Curbelo faced a demanding path in the over-78-kilogram division, fighting through lengthy bouts in both the quarterfinals against Poland’s Urszula Hofman and the semifinals against Dominican judoka Moira Morillo. The semifinal clash against Morillo stretched past eight minutes before Curbelo advanced to the gold-medal match, where she ultimately lost to Venezuela’s Karen León.

Gainesville tournament enters final day

The two-day competition runs through November 1 at its Gainesville, Florida location. Delegation schedules for the closing session feature Iván Silva competing in the 100-kilogram division and Andy Granda entering the over-100-kilogram bracket.