Baseball Caribbean Series

Juan Francisco Puello Herrera, Commissioner of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation, ratified the presence of Cuba in the upcoming Caribbean Series, agreed from February 2nd to the 8th in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Puello Herrera confirmed on Tuesday the participation of Cuba in the Caribbean Classic to face malicious comments from some media about the possible absence of the Cuban squad, the sports publication Jit reported.

The head of the baseball entity said they are still involved in preparations with less than a month before the start of the competition, with the assistance of the champion teams of Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Herrera stated that one of the most important organizational issues is related with the presence of the champion of Cuba, despite comments appeared in various media questioning its participation for the second consecutive year.

Puello Herrera added that the only pending aspect to finish formalizing the participation of Cuban representation is the permit approval by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, response that should be here any moment.

Cuba's team to participate in the Caribbean Series requires a special dispensation from the U.S. government under the extraterritorial measures associated with the economic, commercial and financial blockade that Washington maintains against Cuba for over half a century.

The reigning monarch of Cuban baseball championship, Pinar del Río, will play in the Caribbean classic widely reinforced by members of the national team. They will try to win the crown over the holders of the baseball leagues of Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico, still to be defined.

Chess

The Cuban Leinier Domínguez was announced among potential contenders to the World Chess Cup scheduled for September 10 to October 4 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Dominguez comes 12 among the 40 players supported by their Elo average of 2 750 points.

The leader of Latin America owns 2 725 units in a list headed by the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen (2872), Armenian Levon Aronian (2808) and Italian Fabiano Caruana (2803).

Two years ago the Cuban player did not meet all expectations after losing in round 32 playing Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and remained distant from his achievements in Tripoli 2004, where he reached the quarterfinals.

The contest will bring together 128 players and is governed by the KO system with matches of classical games and tiebreak rapid matches, and will have among its attendees the also Cuban Isam Ortiz, who qualified in the continental tournament last October.

The American continent has secured the participation of U.S. Hikaru Nakamura (2775) and Wesley So (2748), the latter recently nationalized.

Soccer

Ronaldo says his son is a Messi fan

Cristiano Ronaldo's son Cris junior is a Lionel Messi fan the boy's father said after they met up with the Argentinian captain at the Ballon D'Or ceremony in Zurich on Monday.

After Ronaldo was named 2014 Ballon D'Or winner, beating four-time winner Messi into second place, the two players had a friendly exchange in the lobby of Zurich's Kongresshaus when Cris pointed at Messi and then stood up to greet him.

Real Madrid's Portuguese captain Ronaldo told his arch-rival Messi: "He watches a video on the internet of all of us and he talks about you," prompting a coy reaction from his son. Barcelona forward Messi chuckled and asked the young Cristiano how he was doing.

 Ronaldo received his third Ballon D'Or on Monday with the Portuguese or Messi having won the award every year since 2008.