Cuban Polanco wins bronze medal in Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam

Cuban judoka Orlando Polanco (66 kg) earned a bronze medal today in the IJF Grand Slam of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Polanco, bronze medalist in the Pan Am senior championship this year, beat Mongolian Kherlen Ganbold, monarch in the 2019 Grand Prix of Budapest and Montreal and number six of the IJF world ranking, according to the website of the contest.

Previously, the Cuban judoka achieved wins over Portuguese Joao Crisostomo, South Korean Lim Hwan Kim, Georgian Vazha Margvelashvili and Spaniard Alberto Gaitero, but lost in semifinals to Azeri Orkhan Safarov.

The young Caribbean athlete, he´s only 20, had a terrific performance as he currently appears 92nd in the universal list and he defeated men who all rank far ahead of him such as Margvelashvili (3), Ganbold (6), Kim (17) and Gaitero (20).

Safarov (68) was the runner-up after losing the final to Italian Manuel Lombardo (10), while the other bronze medal went to South Korean Baul An (31).

So far, Italy tops the standings with one gold and another silver medal, followed by Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kosovo y Ukraine (1-0-0), nations who won the five titles in dispute today, while Cuba (0-0-1) shares the 12th seat with UK, Portugal and Uzbekistan.

The other four Cubans enrolled in this tough tournamet are women Maylin del Toro (63 kg), Onix Cortes (70) and Kaliema Antomarchi (78) and man Ivan Silva (90).

The IJF Grand Slam of Abu Dhabi 2019 is attended by 553 judokas, 322 men and 231women, from 95 countries, in search of medals and points to the world and Olympic rankings, with an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.