With two gold medals and one bronze medal, Cuba finished in eighth place by nations at the World Wrestling Championship in Belgrade, Serbia, won by Japan.
Greco-style wrestling brought the island three gold medals: gold medals for Luis Orta (67 kg) and Gabriel Rosillo (97), and bronze for Oscar Pino (130). All three qualified for the Paris-2024 Olympic Games, as well as Milaimis Marín, owner of a meritorious fifth place in the women’s 76kg.
On the final day of the event, Olympic champion Luis Orta also became world champion, now reigning in the 67 kg, with a 4-3 victory in the final against Hasrat Jafarov, from Azerbaijan.
Orta had a brilliant world championship, with victories over Souleymen Nasr, from Tunisia, and the Romanian Mihai Radu, in both cases by technical superiority 8-0, then he got the extra in a hard-fought fight against the Serbian Mate Nemes, whom he beat 3-2, and in the semifinals he won with a wide 9-1 slate against Amantur Ismailov, from Kyrgyzstan, a victory that guaranteed him the Olympic ticket for Paris 2024.
Cuba’s other title went to the surprise 97 kg Greco-Greek Gabriel Rosillo, winner in the final against the multi world champion Artur Aleksanyan, from Armenia, in a bout in which he was losing with just seconds to go and tied 3-3 to win.
Rosillo, also a world junior champion, made a spectacular comeback, as he had been dogged by injuries and illness in recent times.
After Orta’s crown, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel stressed that Cuba continues to make history in the World Wrestling Championship.
“Today the joy comes to us with the Olympic monarch Luis Orta, who conquered his first title of the orb,” the president highlighted in his account on the social network X.
Díaz-Canel highlighted that Orta, in a new division, is also a candidate for the podium at the Paris-2024 Olympic Games.
Japan dominated the world championship by countries, with 12 medals (6-3-3-3), followed by the United States with 14 (4-3-7) and Kyrgyzstan (3-1-1).
