Pole Vault
Cuban female pole vaulter Yarisley Silva had a modest day and finished 2nd in the first leg of the Athletics Diamond League, held in Doha, Dakar, won by Greek athlete Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou.
Silva, Olympic silver medalist in London-2012, could only jump 4.53 meters on her 2nd attempt, but failed 3 times trying to jump 4.63 while the Greek failed twice on 4.63 meters to close with a two-time failure on 4.73. The 3rd place was for German Kristina Gadschiew with 4.43 meters, the same result as also German Silke Spiegelburg, who was 5th.
Each stop of the Diamond League gives 4 points for the winners, 2 for second places and 1 for the third one, except the last two stages, offering double amount of the points.
Ball Control
Cuban Erick Hernandez said he will try to beat the Guiness World Record of ball control using just the feet next Tuesday.
Hernandez, world multi-recordist, pointed out exclusively to Prensa Latina news agency that his intention is to start at 08:00 local time and keep 12 hours and 10 minutes bouncing the ball.
The also owner of 2 Guinness records stated the attempt shall be carried out at Copacabana hotel, West of the Cuban capital.
The previous world record of 12 hours and 5 minutes also belongs to him and dates back from May 5th, 2012, achieved at Sevilla hotel, in Havana.
On that occasion, Hernandez overcame the record in possession of the Cuban Luis Sánchez since 1999, in this attempt he hit the ball 62.320 times.
Hernandez said to be in excellent physical condition and stated he has surpassed the record in 3 times in his training sessions.
Cliff-Diving
The 6th World Cliff-Diving Series opened today at the Morro Castle Colonial Fortress, at the very entrance of Havana Bay, with hundreds of eager spectators who are already gathered at Havana's hot spot Punta del Malecón to watch competitors jump from high cliffs of Havana.
The competitors, all men, will jump from a platform placed at 27-meters high and mounted on the cliff at the entrance of Havana Bay. The steel and aluminum structure will stand 7-meters high and 8 out over the sea to avoid risks.
Participating athletes include the Colombian Orlando Duque, 1st monarch of the circuit in 2009 and world champion in Barcelona 2013; Russian Artem Silchenko, number one ranking and winner of the previous World Series event; and British Gary Hunt, winner of the event 3 times (2010, 2011 and 2012).
Cuba will not have representatives in the event, due to the short time of preparation for its 2 national candidates.
Cliff diving is a risky mode where diving is performed (5 for men from 27 meters high and 3 for women from 20 meters), after being suspended in the air for 3 seconds and hitting water at nearly 100 miles per hour.
This cliff-diving season, after its Havana chapter, will travel to Fort Worth, Texas on June 7th; Inis Mor, Ireland, on June 29th; Norway, on July 12th; Azores Islands, Portugal, on July 26th; Bilbao, Spain, on September 20th and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 19th.
Boxing
Six of the seven Cuban boxers who reached the final were crowned champions in qualifying recently held in the Mexican city of Tijuana for the Central American and Caribbean Games, Veracruz-2014.
The harvest allowed the team to fully master the lid and seal the work that had already secured the conquest of the 9 attempted quotas, because the event did not covered the 56 kg division.
The winners were the double world champion Julio Cesar La Cruz, who won for the 2nd consecutive time by technical knockout, the Olympic King Roniel Iglesias, world champion Lázaro Álvarez, the Olympic bronze medal Yasnier Toledo, and the stars Yoandris Toirac and Erislandy Savón.
Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic took 2 crowns each in a lid granted with 56 berths and starting points of a distribution that will add 69 more later in July.
Chess
The Philippine Wesley So defeated the Spanish Francisco Vallejo and remained alone atop the Elite Group of Capablanca Chess Memorial in time where Cubans Leinier Domínguez and Lázaro Bruzón agreed tied with their rivals, while in the Premier Group, Cuban Isam Ortiz won for the 2nd straight day, this time the Italian Danyl Dvirnyy.
Wesley So, debutant in such fairs, stood alone at the top with 1.5 points out of 2 possible, escorted by Cubans Leinier and Bruzón, Ukrainian Vasily Ivanchuk, and Hungarian Zoltan Almasi , all with 1 point.
In the 2nd round, Leinier tied with Almasi, and Bruzón with Ivanchuk, respectively. Today, Saturday, faces Leinier vs So, Ivanchuk and Almasi, and Vallejo-Bruzón.
