Cuban Judoka Maylín del Toro Falls in World Championship Debut

Maylín del Toro fell today to Croatia's Nina Simic, leaving Cuban judo still in search of its first victory at the World Judo Championship being held in Baku.

The two-time Olympian, ranked 45th in the world, faced a rival positioned 22 places above her, but for much of the bout she managed to keep the differences in check on the tatami.

Simic broke the balance at two minutes and 56 seconds with a left-side sumi-gaeshi that threw Del Toro and granted her the only waza-ari of the match.

The Cuban had earlier received a shido for lack of combativeness, and although the Croatian was penalized for a false attack with four seconds remaining, the scoreboard had already closed its doors.

Del Toro, bronze medalist at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games and this year's winner of the Central American and Caribbean Cup in Guatemala, thus made a premature exit from the 63-kilogram division.

Her elimination prolongs Cuba's rough start at the world event, which brings together 622 judokas from 93 nations in the Azerbaijani capital.

The World Championship will grant the Cuban delegation a pause tomorrow, before Iván Silva, in the 100-kilogram division, and Lianet Cardona, in the 78-kilogram division, attempt to finally open the win column.