Baseball
Ciego de Ávila took advantage to Granma in the semifinal round of the 54th Cuban Baseball Championships with balance of 2 wins and 1 loss, while Matanzas cut away the distance to Isla de la Juventud and placed the bilateral match by 2-3.
At the José Ramón Cepero Stadium, Ciego de Avila shutout Granma 6-0 supported by excellent work of right-handed pitcher Ismel Jiménez and homers of Ariel Borrero, Osvaldo Vázquez and Yoelvis Fiss, to lead the bilateral top 2-1.
Matanzas, meanwhile, knocked down Isla de la Juventud 13-0 to stay alive, now with 2 wins and 3 losses; however, it is bound to win the remaining games.
The lefty Yoanni Yera was the main architect in the Matanzas' triumph to tolerate only 3 hits in 6 innings while defeat corresponded to Darien Núñez.
The winning drive was represented by 3rd baseman Yurisbel Gracial, 4-3, 1 run, 1 double and 5 RBIs.
Matanzas and Isla de la Juventud resume their engagement on Tuesday at the Victoria de Girón Matanzas Stadium, while Ciego de Avila and Granma play today at the Cepero Stadium.
Badminton
The Cuban Osleni Guerrero won the title of Giraldilla of Havana Tournament, valid for the badminton world ranking.
Guerrero, top seed of the competition, had no mishaps to impose on the 2nd-seeded, American Howard Shu, in blunt partials of 21-15 and 21-8 in just 35 min. game and ratified as the main racket of America.
Earlier, Peruvians Mario Cuba and Katherine Winder took gold in the mixed doubles for non-submission of Turkish Ramazan Ozturk and Neslihan Kilic, while the Turkish Ebru Tunali overcame the Hungarian Laura Sarosi in the women's final.
Volleyball
The Zenit Kazan Russian team won for the 3rd time in history the Champions Volleyball League, by defeating in the final held in Berlin, the Polish Resovia Rzeszow 3-0.
The Russian staff, which won the tournaments in the 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 Seasons, had previously defeated the host Berlin (3-1) in the semifinals and won the final 25-22, 25-23 and 25-21, with especially thanks to Cuban Wilfredo Leon, again very inspired, who scored 19 points.
In the match for 3rd and 4th places, local Berlin won the bronze by defeating the Polish PGE Skra Belchatow 3-2, with another magnificent performance of Argentinean Facundo Conte.
Thus, the team Zenit Kazan ratifies the Russian rule in this competition since it also won the 2014 Season while the other Russian teams, Novosibirsk and Belgorod, won the tittles in 2012, 2013, respectively.
Chess
Cubans Yuniesky Quesada and Isam Ortiz are the the players with the highest ELO among the more than 170 athletes registered for the Alajuela Chess Open, which began yesterday in Costa Rica.
The organizers reported that the 6th edition includes other GMs as Moldovans Vladimir Georgiev and Nikola Mitkov, and Colombians Alder Escobar and Sergio Barrientos.
Yuniesky and Isam traveled directly from the Indian city of Kolkata after having an unsatisfactory stay there; nevertheless, the Cuban figures said they hope the story to be different to regain the more than 10 Elo points they both lost in Kolkata city.
After this contest they will take part at the Philadelphia Open, USA, to finally represent the Cuban team to take part the Chess World Cup from April 18th-29th.
