BRAZIL AND CUBA LEAD SECOND DAY OF JUDO

The President of Chile attended the event to encourage Chilean judoka Jorge Pérez, his compatriot. In the end, he won silver.

The second day of judo at Santiago 2023 was marked by the victories of Brazil and Cuba, who took home the gold medals of the day. The Brazilians Gabriel Falcao in -73 kg and Guilherme Cesar in -81 kg won the gold medals. Among women, the gold medals were won by Cubans Maylin Del Toro and Idelannis Gómez, respectively in the -63 kg and -70 kg categories.

“Being able to win and take the gold medal in Brazil makes me very happy. Plus, my mother saw me, she hadn’t seen me compete in person for a long time, and seeing me win a gold medal at the Pan American Games is gratifying,” said César, Brazil’s Guilherme Cesar, who won his country’s sixth gold medal. in the specialty of these Games, after competing and winning the fight against the Chilean Jorge Pérez, in the -81kg category.

Chile’s Jorge Pérez won silver, which also became his country’s first medal in judo. The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, was present at this second day of judo, accompanied by the regional governor of Magallanes, Jorge Flíes. Both encouraged Pérez, who, like the national leader and governor, is also from this region.

“I didn’t notice the President’s presence, I was just looking at my technician. This is the first time I compete with a full stadium and they are screaming my name, the public lifted me up during today’s confrontations. When I got to the final, I celebrated because about two months ago I was almost out of the games, I was about to have surgery and now I became a Pan American medalist,” said Pérez said.

The bronze medals in -81 kg were won by the Canadian David Popovic and the Dominican Medickson Del Orde.

In the men’s -73 kg category, Gabriel Falcao won another gold medal for Brazil. This is because his rival and compatriot, Daniel Borges, did not show up and decided to keep the money. The bronzes were obtained by Antonine Bouchard from Canada and Gilberto Cardoso from Mexico.

Concerning the women’s competition, in the -70 kg, gold returned to Cuba with the participation of Idelannis Gómez, who beat her Puerto Rican opponent María Perez. After this fight, Pérez won the first silver medal for Puerto Rico. The bronze medals went to Elvismar Rodríguez of Venezuela, gold medalist in the same category in Lima 2019, and Celinda Corozo of Ecuador.

Cuba also won another gold medal with the participation of Maylin Del Toro in the women’s -63 kg, who renewed her title of Pan American Games judo champion, obtained in Lima 2019. In less than 50 seconds, she defeated her Canadian opponent Isabelle Ena Marie. Anderson, who ended up winning the silver medal. In this category, the bronze medals went to Ketleyn Lima of Brazil and Prisca Awiti of Mexico.

Written by Mélanie Donoso and Anita Carreño