Cuban judoka Ivan Silva reveals his keys to successful start in 2025

MATANZAS, Cuba, Mar 14 (ACN) The work on the physical aspect, especially in weight training, is one of the keys to the good start of Ivan Silva, Cuban judoka universal subtitle in 2018, during the first months of 2025 and in the new division of up to 100 kilograms.

According to what the athlete himself revealed in exclusive statements to the Cuban News Agency, the move to the new category allowed him to emphasize more on gym workouts and increase muscle mass, an issue that also corresponded to the need to increase strength to face heavier opponents.

However, I still have a higher speed than most of my rivals, so I focus on polishing technical and tactical details in an effort to make me a place among the elite of the division, Cuban athlete said.

Silva, multi-awarded at continental and regional level, said about the new rivals that he already knew many of them before the transition, because they coincided in training camps and he was able to perform randori (free practice) with most of the best exponents.

The purpose for the coming months is to score points to improve my position in the world ranking (29th), with a view to the World Championships this year and also start to move up the Olympic ranking, with a view to Los Angeles 2028, he added.

Recognized as the main star of the discipline in the largest of the Antilles, along with his teammate and friend Andy Granda (+100 kg), Silva was crowned champion at the Grand Prix of Judo in Upper Austria last weekend, for his first major international triumph in the new category.

By overcoming the Hungarian Krisztian Toth in the gold medal match, in the golden rule and after more than six minutes of combat on the tatami, the 29-year-old athlete starred in the best performance of Cuban judo so far this season, and the third medal personally in this 2025, after two bronzes in the Grand Slam of Paris and Tashkent.