Judo Grand Prix Havana gets underway

The second edition of the Judo Grand Prix Havana got underway with its competitive schedule on Friday in the Sport City Coliseum where 428 athletes from 69 countries and regions will participate over the weekend.

Friday's program includes the preliminaries and finals for the 48, 52 and 57 kilograms women's categories and the 60 and 66 kilograms men's categories.

The possible fight between Argentina's Paula Pareto, world champion at Astana 2015, and Cuba's Dayaris Mestre, gold medalist at the Pan American Games in Toronto 2015, is among one of the most eagerly anticipated of the day.

Among other athletes, three of the former champions from the first edition in 2014 have returned; U.S. citizen Kayla Harrison (78kg), Belgium's Toma Nikiforov (100kg) and Russia's Renat Saidov (over 100kg).

According to the order of events, on Saturday women will compete in the 63 and 70 kilograms categories and the men in the 73, 81 and 90 kilograms ones. On Sunday, the tournament will come to a close with fights in the 78 and over 78 kilograms women's categories and 100 and over 100 kilograms men's categories.

Winners of the tournament will receive 300 points while silver and bronze medalists will receive 180 and 120 points respectively. These points will be added to the world ranking and will count towards qualification for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016. Endit