Cuban Oscar Pino wins Pan-American wrestling championship
- Written by Redacción ¡ahora!
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Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler Oscar Pino, 130 kilograms (kg), won the gold medal on Thursday at the opening of the Pan American Wrestling Championship underway in Acapulco, Mexico, until May 8.
Pino, bronze medal and a silver medal in world events, won 9-1 in the final against Eduard Soghomonyan, from Brazil, by technical superiority (ST), to add his fourth victory and give Cuba the first title in this competition.
In the morning, his first victim was the American Tanner Richard, whom he defeated 9-0 by ST, and then 3-1 ahead of the Cuban-born Chilean Yamani Acosta; while in the semifinal stage he won 8-0 by ST to Edgardo Juan Lopez, of Puerto Rico.
Also representing the Caribbean nation, Juan Conde (97 kg) had to settle for the silver medal after losing 0-8 by ST to the experienced Kevin Mejia, of Honduras, in the dispute for the scepter.
According to the official website of the World Wrestling Union, the Cuban defeated Igor Fernando Alves of Brazil 3-1 in his debut and in the semifinals he defeated Carlos Alberto Adames of the Dominican Republic 3-2 in a hard-fought match.
In this continental competition, Cuban wrestlers were looking for two places to the Pan American Games of Santiago de Chile 2023, in the 60 and 97 kilos, so with his performance Conde guaranteed the quota in his weight.
Cuban Leonardo Herrera (60 kg) could not meet that goal by losing 4-5 in his debut against the Peruvian Joao Marco Benavides, who did not reach the final and did not drag him to the repechage.
With that performance, Herrera could not secure the ticket in his division to the multisport competition in Santiago de Chile 2023, for which the Cuban gladiators in the Greco-Roman modality had won four places in the First Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, last year.
