Yarisleidis Cirilo and Katherine Nuevo in Tokyo 2020

Havana, May 4 (JIT) - Cuba's best canoeists and kayakers are training in Bydgoszcz, Poland, ahead of the World Cup in Szeged, Hungary, scheduled for May 11-14.

"Almost all of them are predicted to be on the podium, although they will find ranked opponents such as Olympic and world champions," Alejandro Hamze, president of the Cuban federation of that sport, told JIT.

"In Poland there is Yarisleidis Cirilo, who will compete in Szeged in the C1-200 meters looking to be among the top three, as well as in the C1-500. She will also make her debut in the C2-500 with Mailienys Avila", he highlighted.

Serguey Torres and Tabiani Diéguez will compete in the C2-500 in order to be among the winners of the B final. The former is eyeing the medals in the C1-5000.

"José Ramón Pelier will fight in the C1-1000 and the C1-5000 with a chance to be among the top four," he highlighted.

Among the kayakers, Yurieni Guerra and Robert Benitez (K1-1000 and K1-5000) aim to be the best placed of Central America in the B finals.

"The main objective of the boats that are not going for medals is to measure themselves with their Mexican counterparts, among our main rivals in the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023", concluded the also national commissioner.

As one of the strongholds of the international community of the sport, Szeged will host the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Junior and Under-23 World Championships in 2022.