Cuban Judoka Denounces Attempted Bribery

At the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro

HAVANA TIMES (dpa) – The Cuban judoka Asley Gonzalez denounced an attempted bribe to lose the final match for the gold medal, (90 kilograms), at the recent World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.

“They offered me US $15,000 and then $20,000 to lose, but I never wavered to uphold my dream of being a world champion and my principles,” Gonzalez told “Jit” online.

Gonzalez first defeated the Greek judoka, Ilias Iliadis, an Olympic champion and twice world champion, and then won the final over Georgian Varlam Liparteliani, getting one of the two gold medals won by the Cuban delegation at the event.

The 24-year-old athlete has been gradually improving in recent events. In the 2012 Olympic Games he won the silver medal in the same category and had good performances in the Grand Slam in Paris and Miami.

During the official reception for the Cuban delegation in Havana on Monday, Cuban First Vice President, Miguel Diaz-Canel had alluded to the attempted bribe and denied that there is a “debacle” in the island’s sports movement.