Baseball
Ciego de Avila won its 3rd consecutive win by defeating 15-1 to Las Tunas this Sunday to be ratified as the undisputed leader of the 55th Cuban Baseball Championship.
The designated Yorelvis Charles hit 4-2 with 2 trailers as the most outstanding by Ciego de Avila' Los Tigres offensive while opener Denis Castillo won success despite admitting 10 hits in 5 episodes, although he allowed just 1 run.
With 9 consecutive victories, current national monarchs lead seamlessly with 11 wins and only 2 setbacks, escorted by Industriales, which beat 8-2 to Guantanamo on Sunday.
Ian Rendon starred solid pitching performance for Industriales' cause with just 2 undisputed allowed in 6 chapters, supported by shortstop Jorge Aloma's offensive and 1st baseman Alexander Malleta's attack, with 2 trailers per capita.
During the day on Sunday, the teams of Artemisa, Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus also completed sweeps in their respective individual commitments.
Artemisa's Los Cazadores liquidated the battered Camagüey 7-6 with 3 RBIs offensive highlight of outfielder Yohandry Urgellés, while Matanzas¡ catcher Onel Vega gave the homer in the 6-5 triumph of the los Cocodrilos fom Matanzas facing Mayabeque.
Also Sancti Spiritus' Los Gallos exceeded 7-4 to Isla de la Juventud, with per capita of doubles by Daviel Dómez and Dunieski Barroso for the winning drive, while Cienfuegos handcuffed 3-2 to Villa Clara, with the 2nd success of lefty Leorisbel Sánchez.
In the other matches of the day, Granma arranged 9-4 to Santiago de Cuba and Pinar del Rio knocked out Holguin by 12-2.
Ciego de Avila leads now with 11-2, followed by Industriales (9-3), then Granma, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus (8-4), then Cienfuegos (7-5), Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba (6-6), Artemisa, Holguín, Villa Clara, Guantanamo and Las Tunas (5-7), Isla de la Juventud (5-8), Mayabeque (3-9) and Camaguey (1-11).
Volleyball
Cuba's men's team lost 1-3 to Iran in the last day of the 1st preliminary round of the World U-21 Volleyball Championship, which takes place in several cities in Mexico, attended by 16 teams divided into 4 groups.
According to the website of the tournament, the Iranians fell on Sunday in the 1st half 18-25 but then beat the remaining 3 sets, 25-17, 25-18, 25-18, highlighting Esmaeilnezhad Amin, top scorer of the match with 20 points, supported by Saeed Javaheri 16.
For his part, Cubans with better numbers were Luis Tomas Sosa (12) and Osmany Uriarte (16), corresponding to the C Segment, which hosted the city of Mexicali.
With this result, Rodolfo Sanchez' pupils finished this stage without victory and 3 setbacks, because this Friday and Saturday fell 0-3 to Brazil and China, in that order, action that prevents them to continue looking for 1 of the 8 seats available.
In the case of women's volleyball, Cuba beat 3-2 host Puerto Rico in the last day of the 1st preliminary round of the World U-20 Volleyball Championship in a match that took place in the city of Guarabo, one of 4 venues of the contest.
The Cubans won the first 2 sets 25-14, 25-20, lost the 3rd and 4th, 20-25, 11-25 but prevailed 15-7 in the 5th in Group A, which also share to Russia and Bulgaria to conclude the stage with 2 points, 1 win and 2 setbacks.
For Cuba highlighted Dalila Palma Rodriguez and Sonia Beatriz Romero, while Ivania Ortiz and Gabriela Ramos stood out by Puerto Ricans.
Two Silver Medals for Cuba in Athletics Grand Prix final
Cubans Denia Caballero and Pedro Pablo Pichardo won the silver medal in their respective disciplines in the final stop of the Athletics Diamond League held last week in Brussels, Belgium.
Caballero, who became world champion in discus throw (women) last August in Beijing, threw the implement to the 65.77 meter mark to finish 2nd.
London 2012 Olympic champion, Croatian Sandra Perkovic, beat the Cuban with a 67.50 meter shot, and won the Diamond League while the bronze medal went to German Nadine Muller (62.64) and Cuban thrower Yaimé Pérez (61.84) finished in the 4th position.
Meanwhile, in the triple jump event, Pichardo lost again to world and Olympic champion, American Christian Taylor, who marked 17,59 meters,
Pichardo was far from his best, but his 17.06 meter jump was enough to trail the American in the standings.
The Cuban had won 3 Diamond League meetings this year, in Diham Rome and New York, and was leading the Diamond race till this final event, but succumbed to Taylor, who took the main prize home.
