Havana, Oct 24 (RHC-ACN)-- The five Cubans attending the 8th Santo Domingo Badminton Open debut today in the contest that will run until next Friday at Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, in the Dominican Republic's capital.

Osleni Guerrero, Cuban leading player and sixth seed of the tournament, will face in the men´s individual event English Rory Easton, while Leodanis Martinez (8) will rival the local Reimi Cabrera, whom he already beat in the 2013 Pan-American Championship.

Also in the men´s individual event, Ernesto Reyes, only Cuban who had to attend the qualifying stage, will fight against Canadian Timothy Chiu after defeating in the aforementioned round the hosts Daniel Acosta and Rafeili Perez.

In the women´s individual event, Taimara Oropeza (4) will face the also local Fanny Duarte, while Adriana Ortiz will have a tough opponent in American Isabel Zhong, champion of the 8th Mexico Open, held a month ago in Aguascalientes.

Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, Guerrero and Ortiz will clash with the domestic pair of Ariel Cine and Walkiris Cesar, while Martinez and Oropeza got a bye into the second round, as it happened to Guerrero and Martinez in the men´s double event.

Maykel Moreno, Cuban head coach, told ACN that from November 15 to 18, Guerrero, Martinez and Oropeza will compete in the 11th International Tournament of Suriname, last foreign participation of Cuban badminton this year.

"Before that, we will attend a training camp from Novemeber 10 to 14 in Paramaribo, capital of that South American country, at the invitation of the Pan American Badminton Confederation," Moreno said