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Cuba topped the medal table by country at the Central American Judo Cup Panama 2026, held over the weekend, by winning six golds, four silvers, and one bronze, achieving presence in 11 of the 14 weight divisions in competition.
"With six titles, four silver medals, and one bronze medal, the largest of the Antilles dominated the tournament by country ahead of Mexico (3-1-6)," wrote journalist Raúl Hernández Lima on the specialized site JIT. Colombia rounded out the medal standings with two golds, four silvers, and five bronzes.
The Cuban champions were Jonathan Charón (60 kg), Orlando Polanco (66 kg), Marlon Herrera (73 kg), Andy Granda (+100 kg), Dali Sentmanat (52 kg), and Anisleydis Ur (70 kg). According to the source, the first three "left no doubt about their favorite tags." Herrera added merit to his title by defeating the highest-ranked competitor in the area, the Mexican Ulises Méndez.
Two performances stood out above the rest. Sentmanat "made an outstanding impression by winning the title after convincingly defeating all her rivals," while Ur "exceeded expectations by clinching the gold medal without receiving any negative scores," according to the same source.
In the chapter of the medals, Maylín del Toro (63 kg) faced a high-level obstacle: the Mexican Prisca Awiti, Olympic silver medalist in Paris 2024, who defeated her by waza-ari-awasete-ippon. Lianet Cardona (78 kg) lost to the Colombian Brenda Olaya, the youth world champion.
Iván Silva (100 kg) lost in a gold medal match against the Colombian Francisco Balanta, and Naysdel Cardoso (90 kg) was defeated in the final by the Mexican Diego Díaz.
Dayanara Curbelo secured the only bronze medal by defeating Karra Hanna from the Bahamas by ippon in just over a minute. Yainet Coronado (48 kg) and Lian Benavides (57 kg) were eliminated in their first matches.
The result carries additional strategic weight: Cuba had been absent from the three qualifying tournaments in the area held in 2025 for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo 2026. This tournament is the fourth event in the circuit and distributes points for the regional ranking that determines qualification for those games, scheduled from July 24 to August 8 in the Dominican capital.
The next challenge for the Cuban judo will be the Central American Cup in Guatemala on March 28, followed by the Senior Pan American Championship on April 18 in Panama.
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