OLYMPIC?and World champions such as Cubans Idalys Ortiz and Ashley Gonzalez as well as Yuri Alvear of Colombia will be competing at the inaugural Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) judo qualifier which is being hosted by the Barbados Judo Association at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex tomorrow and Sunday.
The 24-year-old Ortiz, who won a gold medal at the London Olympics and a bronze at the Beijing Olympics, will be competing in the +78kgs category.
World champion Ortiz has dominated the continental championships, winning gold ten times.
Alvear, 27, who won the bronze medal of the under 57kg division of the 2006 CAC, will be competing in the 70-kgs category.
In 2008, she participated in Beijing’s Olympic Games where she placed seventh but in 2009, she won gold at the World Championships in Rotterdam. In 2012 she won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London, the first ever Olympic medal for Colombia in judo. She has won several Continental and World Cups.
Gonzalez, 24, was world champion in the 90 kgs division in Brazil last year. He is also a silver medallist in the London Olympics and a world bronze medallist in Paris 2011. He is a double continental champion.
Barbados will be represented by a strong five-member team, spearheaded by 22-year-old Kyle Maxwell, who has competed at three Pan American Championships, two CAC Games and three World Championships.
He is the first Barbadian judoka to win a match at a World Championship (Tokyo).
The other members of the national team are Asa Weithers, Onoh Obasi Okey, Nathan Weithers and Justin Boyce.
Judokas from The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Guyana, Panama, Belize, Costa Rico, Cuba, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Venezuela, Mexico, and host country Barbados will be participating at the two-day qualifying event.
Preliminary competition will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow while the bronze matches and finals will start at 3 p.m.
