Iván Silva is the most visible face of Cubans in Paris.

Photo: IJF.

The ten representatives of Cuba registered to compete this February 4 and 5 at the Grand Slam in Paris already know their ways after this Friday's draw.

In a top-level event where

the world champion Andy Granda (+100 kg) and the Olympic and planetary multi-medalist Idalys Ortiz (+78 kg) will not participate

, the great objective of the Creoles is to add points for the already active Olympic classification ranking .

Now

the best options for Cuba fall back on the most experienced Iván Felipe Silva (90 kg), Maylín del Toro (63 kg) and Magdiel Estrada (73 kg),

although their paths are not exempt from complexities from the first moments.

Together with them, a group of youngsters led by Arnaes Odelín (57 kg) and Orlando Polanco (66 kg) will seek the best possible performance.

Thus, Iván Felipe -

second seeded in the tournament and number 14 in the world ranking

- was placed as the leader of group C and awaits the winner between the South Korean Juyeop Han and the Estonian Kristofer Klen Kaljulaid, two men with no great record on the international circuit.

Clearly

this will be a very close division

, with the presence of judokas such as the Georgians Luka Maisuradze -current world bronze- and Lasha Bekauri -Olympic holder-, the Brazilian Rafael Macedo and the Serbian Nemanja Majdov.

For her part, in the 63 kg

Maylín del Toro was also

bye

in the first round and will face the Hungarian Szofi Orbas in the next

, a 21-year-old girl who has among her merits the 2019 world junior title and gold in the Youth Olympic Games of 2018. The winner of that lawsuit will probably see the faces with the Portuguese Barbara Timo, current world tanned.

Another who will also debut in the second round will be Magdiel Estrada (73 kg), awaiting the winner between the Mongolian Uranbayar Odgerel and the Frenchman Alexandre Rubiano.

Against both, the Antilles comes out as a favorite

, although he will have to work hard in a key that has rivals such as the Brazilian Daniel Cargnin —Olympic and world bronze— and the German Igor Wandtke.

Unlike Silva, both Maylín and Magdiel will see action on the first of the two days of the tournament.

On the same day, Orlando Polanco (66 kg), Zamarit Gregorio (48 kg), Blanca Cabrera (52 kg) and Arnaes Odelín (57 kg) will also compete.

Polanco —66 in the ranking— will start against Kazakh Gusman Kyrgyzbayev,

ranked 26 on the list but runner-up in the world in 2021 and Asian tan in 2022

.

Meanwhile, the rookies Gregorio and Cabrera

will try to show how much they can advance against their respective rivals

: the Spanish Gemma María Gómez and the Australian Tinka Easton.

Finally, on this opening date, the promising Arnaes Odelín —20th in the universal ranking— will start in the second round against the Georgian Mariam Tsikhelashvili.

However,

if the West Indian meets the forecasts and advances to the next round, she must face off against the Japanese Haruka Funabuko, second in the world ranking and defending champion of the Grand Slam in Paris.

Arnaes Odelín hopes to continue climbing the world ladder.

Photo: IJF.

For the second day, Cuba foresees the participation, in addition to Silva, of Jorge Martínez (81 kg) and Liester Cardona (100 kg) among the men, while the ladies will see action only through the 2022 world youth tanned, Idelannis Gómez (70kg).

For this trio

, the great challenge will be to make the most of this opportunity at the main level, a scenario rarely seen for them.

Thus, Jorge Martínez will look for his first victory against the local Tizie Gnamien —European silver under 23 in the last season—.

For his part, Cardona will have a difficult debut against Georgian Giorgi Beriashvili, while

Idelannis has better options to advance in her debut against French Laura Haberstock.

The Grand Slam in Paris will be the

first tournament of the year for Cuban judo on the

IJF World Tour,

the highest level circuit in this sport and the one in charge of distributing Olympic qualification points

for a ranking that will constantly change until May 2024.

In fact, in the latest update, the Greater Antilles has Andy Granda, Iván Silva, Idalys Ortiz and Magdiel Estrada in direct advance positions

, while Arnaes Odelín occupies one of the quotas distributed to America.