Athletics
Reynier Mena set a national junior record in the men's 100 meters dash, clocking 10.22 sec. at the Rafael Fortun Sport Memorial staged in the city of Camagüey.
Mena, 18, is one of the revelations of speed in Cuba. In 2013 he reached bronze in the World Championship of Cadets in Ukraine, and silver in the 200-meter dash, and gold in the 4x100 Cuban relay last year in Veracruz 2014.
Among the women, the main athlete was Arialis Gandulla, who kept the scepter in 100 (11.51 sec.) and 200 (23.77 sec.) meters.
In the men's field, Roberto Skyers (20.40 sec.) and Mena (20.50) claimed marks to Rio de Janeiro to settle at seats 1st and 2nd of that final distance.
Shooting
Cuba's Leuris Pupo won the silver medal and qualified for the Olympics 2016 in Rio de Janeiro in the rapid fire pistol 25 meters modality, played in the Shooting World Cup recently held at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the United States.
Pupo just gave in to the world champion and leader of the ranking, the German Oliver Geis, who made 33 points against the 30 that he made in the finals among the best 6 out of 55 submitted contestants.
Canoeing World Cup
Cuban Serguey Torres won the gold in single-seater canoe (C-1) in the last day of the Canoeing World Cup, held in Portugal, published Jit website today.
Torres, winner of 5 medals in world competitions, got the title in the 5 thousand-meter distance in the World Cup disputed in the city of Montemor-o-Velho.
The Cuban dominated the distance -not Olympic- with a 22.12.060 min. and was escorted by Chinese Peng Fei Zhen (22.36.940), and Polish Malheusz Kaminsky (22.46.180).
For his part, his compatriot Jorge Garcia (20.34.550), ended 5th in the kayak one-seater (K-1) modality.
The 5 first nations in the medal list were Canada, with 4 golds, 4 silver and 1 bronze medals, France (3-2-3), Hungary (3-2-1), Portugal (3-1-4) and New Zealand (3-1-1).
Sailing
The arrival in Havana of 5 catamarans from Key West on Saturday, May 16th, opened a new page in the history of U.S.-Cuba sport navigation.
15 years had to pass from the 1st Havana Challenge —a race held in 2000 for the first time— for the U.S. government to grant the organizers permission to sail to Cuba legally again.
The trip has been made possible in the context of ongoing negotiations to re-establish relations between the United States and Cuba.
The fleet of American boats taking part in this first trip to Cuba comprises other 15 ships, including 2 replicas of 18th-century schooners.
In addition to crossing the Florida Straits, the American sailors will race Cuban boats from the National Sailing Team and other 2 teams from Matanzas province. The race will extend over 1 nautical mile along Havana's Malecon seafront, starting at the level of the Hotel Nacional in Vedado and finishing at the Deauville Hotel, in Centro Habana.
Commodore Jose Miguel Dias Escrich, head of Cuba's Hemingway International Nautical Club (CNIH), said at a local press conference that all the ships will take part in a boat parade on Wednesday along the northern coast. The schooners are expected to be the main attraction of the show.
“The joint organization of this event by the Key West Sailing Club, the Key West Sailing Center and the CNIH, means a great deal for both countries,” said Commodore Escrich.
“Many American sailing clubs have conveyed to us their interest in organizing their own races in 2015 and 2016. More and more clubs want to fraternize with us through this kind of event,” he added.
On the American side, one of the organizers, Joe Weatherby, a Key West charter boat captain for almost 30 years, told reporters that the Challenge could become an annual event now that the U.S. Treasury Department has granted them a license.
