The Cuban judo team concluded its participation in the individual tournament of the Baku 2026 World Championship this Saturday without winning any medals, marking the third consecutive world championship without medals for the island's delegation.
The last Cuban to compete was Dayanara Curbelo in the over 78 kg category, who was eliminated in the round of 32 by the French athlete Romane Ficko, the number three in the world ranking, world champion in Tashkent 2022, and a double Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
Curbelo, ranked 42nd by the International Judo Federation (IJF), was defeated by ippon —three penalties and hansoku-make— while the scoreboard also showed a waza-ari against her, without her being able to put up any real resistance against the French favorite.
The best performance by the Cuban delegation was recorded by Iván Felipe Silva in the 100 kg category, with two victories before being eliminated in the round of 16, a result that placed him in ninth position and earned him 320 points for the world ranking.
The fact has a bittersweet taste: Silva was precisely a silver medalist at the 2018 Baku World Championship, although he competed in the 90 kg category at that time, and returning to the same venue eight years later without reaching the podium underscores the decline of the team.
The remaining seven registered judokas —Jonathan Charón (60 kg), Orlando Polanco (66 kg), Lian Benavides (57 kg), Maylín del Toro (63 kg), and Lianet Cardona (78 kg)— all lost in their first match, leaving Cuba with only two victories and seven defeats in nine individual tournament bouts.
The delegation, led by Julio Alderete at the head of the men's team and Boannys Chang at the head of the women's team, competed in a tournament that brought together 622 judokas from 93 countries, with 335 men and 287 women.
The result extends a streak that is concerning for Cuban judo: the island also did not make it to the podium at the World Championship in Budapest 2025 or in Doha 2023, a drought that contrasts sharply with the rich historical record—16 golds, 20 silvers, and 33 bronzes in world championships, placing sixth historically among nations according to the IJF.
At the conclusion of the individual tournament, Japan topped the medal table with seven golds, two silvers, and three bronzes, followed by Georgia, Spain, Azerbaijan, and the United Arab Emirates.
On a positive note, ten Cuban judokas remain in qualifying positions in the Pan American ranking, led by Charón in first place and Polanco in second, keeping the team’s qualifying aspirations alive for upcoming competitions.
Cuba will have one last chance to save the competition this Sunday: the mixed team tournament, featuring matches in the men's divisions of 73, 90, and over 90 kg, and the women's divisions of 57, 70, and over 70 kg.
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