Controversial Decision Ends Luis Orta‘s Run at World Wrestling Championships – Cubadebate Reports
Zagreb, Croatia – Cuban Olympic champion Luis Orta saw his bid for a second consecutive World Wrestling championship title cut short in the Greco-Roman 67kg division following a contentious quarterfinal loss that has sparked outrage over officiating, as reported by Cubadebate.
Orta, the reigning world champion from Belgrade 2023, began the tournament strongly with two victories. He secured a technical superiority win (10-0) over Ukraine’s Maksym Liu in his opening bout and followed it up with a win against Turkey’s Murat Firat in the round of 16.
However, his tournament ended with a narrow 4-2 defeat to Daniial Agaev of the United World wrestling. A two-point demolition awarded to Agaev in the second period proved decisive, and the decision immediately drew criticism from the Cuban delegation and wrestling analysts.
“Ours are victims of bad decisions of the referees, especially in the Greco modality,” stated Guillermo Rodríguez Hidalgo-Gato, a journalist with Rebel Radio, on his Facebook account, echoing the widespread frustration. He further commented, “Unluckily this World Cup has been marked by arbitration injustices against Cubans. It is not easy for them to decide in this way when there are many months of readiness, of sacrifice.”
Orta’s hopes of a bronze medal now hinge on his quarterfinal opponent, Agaev, reaching the final. Should agaev advance, Orta will have a chance to compete in the repechage. If Agaev fails to reach the final, Cuban depiction in Zagreb will be limited to the bronze medal won by milaymis Marín (76kg) in the women’s freestyle competition.
Meanwhile, the category favorite, Iranian Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi – the world number one and recent Olympic champion from Paris 2024 - advanced to the semifinals with dominant 8-0 victories in his preliminary matches and will face Agaev.
