Chess

The 1st and 3rd seats achieved by Yuniesky Quesada and Leinier Domínguez as 3rd and 1st boards in the World Team Chess Championship held in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia, stands out in the 8th place overall reached by Cuba after they both shone individually, mainly Quesada, in the final outcome of the Cuban team, which got 7 points, divided into 3 wins, 1 draw and 5 defeats in a row.

The young player of the Caribbean island accumulated 5.5 units in 8 presentations and 68.8% of effectiveness, performance with which he won the gold medal in the 3rd board.

On Tuesday, in the 9th and final round of the event, the Cuban squad lost 1-3 to the United States.

Meanwhile, Lazaro Bruzon and Isan Ortiz were beaten by Alexander Lenderman and Varuzha Hakobyan, respectively.

China, with 15 points, topped the standings, followed by Ukraine (12), Armenia (11), Russia and the United States (10), Hungary (9), Israel (8), Cuba and India (7) and Egypt (1).

Baseball

The downside --and it’s only negative if you see it that way, says coach Mike Reid-- is that it’s going to cost the club around $40,000, which will mean some heavy fund raising, both private and corporate, to raise the required amount.

Acadia is the first-ever university baseball program invited to travel to Cuba as part of the tour, which has been ongoing for the past 4 years, and is part baseball, part humanitarian and all goodwill.

Not only will the Acadia players get to play baseball against Cuban players, as part of the humanitarian portion of the tour, they will bring school supplies and baseball equipment to Cuba, badly in need of both.

Reid said the invitation to be part of the tour “came right out of the blue” from Dennis Woodworth, a professional travel consultant who is heading up what he calls the Caribbean Baseball Goodwill Tours.

Acadia was chosen “because I’ve worked with players who are in their program, and with their coaches... a lot of our young players have expressed an interest in going there, since the biggest thing we want to do is create a cultural experience for people in this country,” Woodworth said.

According to Mr. Reid and pitcher David Pilat, who spearheaded the rebirth of the Acadia baseball program last fall, the club is still waiting on the final itinerary, but they know they will be leaving for Cuba on Feb. 6th, 2016. The Acadia team will play U-21 academy teams and a university team from Matanzas province.

The Acadia contingent making the trip to Cuba will consist of 20 players, 3 coaches, a school representative and a chief de mission.

The Acadia team recently attended the Atlantic College Showcase, a recruiting opportunity, Mr. Reid said, “showing off the talents of the top Atlantic Canada baseball players aged between 14-17.”

The showcase was organized by former members of the Toronto Blue Jays, including Devon White, Kelly Gruber and former manager Cito Gaston, as well as former major leaguer Jason Dickson, who is now involved with the National Junior Program.