“I see myself capable of fighting face to face with the world tops although I don’t like to set expectations very high,” says Hugo Arillo Vázquez (Elche, February 28, 2022). At the World Cup in Baku (Azerbaijan), the taekwondo player from the FER project that Juan Roig executes through the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, the Spaniard who enjoys fighting with taller rivals to take advantage of his very fast mobility, has given the national delegation great joy by hanging the silver medal in the -54 kg category (non-Olympic category in Paris 2024) although Arillos (who arrived as 45th ranking) knows that in principle his Olympic cycle should be as follows, Los Angeles 2028.
Arillo has achieved the fourth medal for Spain in the championship, after the bronzes of Adrián Vicente (-58 kg), Adriana Cerezo (-49 kg) and Joan Jorquera (-63 kg), after a complicated and hard path that led him to Defeating rivals with a lot of work, technique and effort: Ethiopian Salomon Demse (2-0), Iranian Mahdi Hajimousaei (2-1), Brazilian Paulo Melo, 2019 World Cup medalist (2-1); the Italian Teodoro Del Vecchio (2-0). In the semifinal, the Turkish Gorkem Polat, European runner-up in the category, awaited him. And the first round went to Arillo in a totally conclusive way: 15-1. Two minutes separated him from the dream of being a finalist.
AND The young 21-year-old fighter, who trains and studies at the CAR in Los Alcázares (Murcia), made a fantastic assault from less to more to make a beautiful comeback that the Turk did not know or could stop. Arillos secured at least the silver and the gold would be played with the Asian champion, the Korean Tae-joon Park. Nothing to lose for a brave taekwondo player who projected great successes later and who has taken a giant step in his evolution. Far from being intimidated, Arillo went all out but in the initial round he was inferior and gave it up 8-0. The second was much more even, but they also fell to Park’s side 6-2. Gold for him and fantastic silver for Hugo Arillo.
“I don’t see myself clearly inferior to anyone. In the last big events, on many occasions, I have lacked a little bit of luck. I have lost very important fights for the minimum, for small details, at the last minute. Perhaps, I lack some mettle or mischief, ”explained the man from Elche in the previous one. His world medal shows that he has taken this step and that bit of fortune has also accompanied him in a great positive surprise for Spanish taekwondo.
REST OF SPANIARDS.
For his part, Sara Cortegoso (-46kg) was eliminated in the second round after losing to Kazakh Bakisheva (3rd in the ranking) 2-0. Tomorrow, the penultimate day with serious options to expand the medal table since it is the turn of the world champion in 2022 Daniel Quesada (-74) and the European gold medalist in 2022 Jone Magdaleno (-62).