HAVANA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cuban judo star Maricet Espinosa won the Ippon trophy at the 2012 World Team Judo Championships held over the weekend in northeastern Brazil's city of Salvador de Bahia, local media reported Monday.

The trophy is awarded by the International Judo Federation to the best competitor at the championships.

According to Cuban coach Ronaldo Veitia, Espinosa, competing in the 63-kilo class, won the "ippon," or the maximum score a fighter can get in the Japanese martial art, four times last Saturday.

Thanks to Espinosa's excellent performance, said the coach, Cuba's women's team was able to take third place, after defeating Algeria and Turkey 5-0 and 4-1 respectively, in the preliminary rounds, then losing 1-0 to Japan in the semifinal match, and finally beating Russia 3-2 for the bronze medal.

Cuba's team played 20 matches in all, winning 13, including 10 by ippon, and losing seven, said Veitia.

In addition to Espinosa, the women's team includes 52-kilo Yanet Bermoy with three wins and one loss, 57-kilo Aliuska Lopez (2-2), 70-kilo Onix Cortes (2-2) and, in the over 70-kilo category, Idalis Ortiz (1-1) and Kaliema Antomachin (0-2).

Japan won the women's championship, followed by silver medal winner China, and Brazil, which tied Cuba for the bronze.