Baseball
With the match tied at 2 wins each, Ciego de Ávila and Isla de la Juventud will play on Wednesday to break the tie and be placed just one win from the title of the 54th Cuban Baseball Series.
In the 4th challenge of the final, Los Piratas beat Los Tigres 7-6 after 11 long innings disputed at the Cristóbal Labra Stadium in Nueva Gerona city.
Luis Felipe Rivera's decisive hit against lefty Ariel Diaz drove in Julio Pablo Martinez from the 2nd base to defining mark of the challenge, very close play decision finally legitimized by the appealing committee after the protest of Avilenian coach Roger Machado.
Thus ended a 4 hours and 30 min. clash, which until the 6th entry was led by Ciego de Ávila 4-0, with its opener Dachel Duquesne; however, relievers Vladimir García Yunier Cano tolerated 6 combined runs in the 7th.
Although Los Tigres took 1 homer of 2 runs by Yeniet Pérez to meet at 6 in the 8th, they finally capitulated against reliever Hector Mendoza, who already shows 1 rescue and 1 win in the finals.
The 5th game of the play off final will be this Wednesday at the Cristóbal Labra Stadium, and a starting pitching duel between Ismel Jimenez for Ciego de Avila and Javier Vazquez by Isla de la Juventud is expected.
Badminton
The Cuban Osleni Guerrero will defend his title at the Open Badminton of Peru, Challenge category, with a stage in Lima from 22nd-26th this month, which confirmed attendance of 69 singles players from 25 countries from Europe, Asia and 1 South African representative.
Guerrero, 55th of the world ranking, will seek to maintain the primacy of 2013 and 2014 and get the 4000 points offering by the contest, considering that among the first 10 figures of the continent, he is the one with least tournaments played.
Reaching the crown, Osleni would be number one in Latin-America, place occupied for weeks by the Guatemalan Kevin Gordon, who will also compete in the Peruvian lid, along with other renowned as Americans Howard Shu, Sattawat Pongnairat and Bjorn Seguin, and Brazilian Daniel Paiola.
Triathlon
Three Cuban athletes will participate next Sunday in one of the phases of the Pan-American Cup to be hosted by the Ecuadorian city of Salinas.
The Cuban ladies will be represented by Leslie Amat and Lisandra Hernández, Veracruz 2014 medalist, while Michel Gonzalez will intervene among men.
The Ecuadorian lid awards points valid for the Pan ranking classification of Toronto 2015, in July, and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro'16.
Cuba has so far secured presence in the tournament with Lisandra Hernández who qualified directly after winning the gold medal at the Pan-American Cup and the Central American and Caribbean Triathlon Championship recently held in Barranquilla, Colombia.
The website of the event have so far confirmed 50 competitors from 15 countries, who will cover the Olympic distance of 1500 meter swim, 40 km. cycling and 10 km. running.
The team, which trains at the Pan-American Stadium, East of Havana, is coached by Michel Poulot.
