Cuban wrestlers Mijaín López and Yasmani Acosta, representative of Chile, advanced this Monday to the semifinal round of the 130 kilograms in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Fate wanted both gladiators, friends for a long time, to have different paths heading towards the crown discussion, and for now, they are making good progress in their effort to advance to the decisive battle.
Without a doubt, the greatest attraction lies in the figure of López, king in Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, and Tokyo 2020. The "Giant of Herradura" is seeking his fifth crown under the five rings, despite the comments surrounding his figure and the possibility of a defeat.
In fact, the prestigious American magazine Sports Illustrated predicted a bronze medal and favored the Iranian Amir Mirzazadeh, the world champion from Belgrade 2023. However, the forecast failed completely, as the 41-year-old from Pinar surpassed his opponent in the second match.
The five-time universal champion forced a passivity from the Persian and achieved an imbalance to score three points on the board. Later, the opponent scored one, but could do nothing more. Previously, López made his debut with an easy 7-0 victory over the South Korean Lee Seung-chan.
Acosta's journey, who decided not to return to Cuba in 2015, has been a bit more complicated, although he has perfectly executed his combat strategy.
In the debut, he surpassed the Bulgarian Kiril Milenov 1-1 (for scoring the final point) and then eliminated one of the favorites, the Egyptian Abdellatif Mohamed (2-1), multiple times a medalist in world competitions.
In the evening hours in Paris, Mijaín López will face the Azerbaijani Sabah Shariati, and Yasmani Acosta will compete against the Chinese Lingzhe Meng. The winners will advance to the grand final, which, judging by what has been seen, could have a purely Cuban flavor.
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