Baseball
Industriales surpassed Granma 9-6 and became the 2nd set to arrive at 20 wins in the 55th Cuban Baseball Classic.

Returning to the lineup after missing 2 games, Rudy Reyes and Yulieski Gourriel produced 5 hits in combination to propel 6 runs in 8 turns at bat, to allow the rise of the capital's Los Leones from 5th to 3rd place in the Table.

Currently, Industriales has 20 and 11 and appears behind Pinar del Rio with 19-9, whose commitment against Las Tunas was sealed, and also the leader Ciego de Avila 22-9, who hit 19 hits and overcame Mayabeque 11x1.

In other matches on Friday, Villa Clara defeated Matanzas 2x1; Isla de la Juventud left Cienfuegos on the field 6x5; Holguin won Sancti Spiritus 3x0; Artemisa bowed to Guantanamo 6x5, and Camagüey exceeded Santiago de Cuba 5x3.

Now, behind the defending champion Ciego de Avila go Pinar del Rio and Industriales, then Las Tunas (18-10), Granma (19-11), Cienfuegos (15-13), Matanzas (16-14), Holguin (16-15), Isla de la Juventud (16-15) and Sancti Spiritus (16-15).

Rounding out the roster Villa Clara (15-16), Guantanamo (14-16), Santiago de Cuba (11-20), Artemisa (9-19), Camagüey (9-22) and Mayabeque (5-25).

The sub series that began on Friday conclude on Sunday when most sets will have played 33 games and are posted 12 games to conclude the preliminary phase.

The first 8 teams will advance to the next stage of the Table to dispute 42 games, each of them looking for 4 tickets to access the Post-season.

And also from baseball, but this time in Olympics, we learned that the Qualifying Tournament of the Americas previous to the Baseball Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will only offer 2 tickets if both sports finally return to the program, revealed Riccardo Fraccari, President of the World Confederation of Baseball and Softball.

The United States, Cuba, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are the powers in dispute, besides the host, Japan.

Pan Diving

Mexico added another 4 of 6 possible gold medals at the Pan-American Children and Youth Diving Championships that made its 2nd day on Friday in the western city of Matanzas.

Canada and the United States took over the other 2 gold medals, while the local squad won its 1st medal when Anisley Garcia, Category C, enjoyed the bronze in the platform (F).

130 athletes from 10 nations, including the lesser categories of 11 years (D), 12-13 (C), 14-15 (B) and 16-18 (A), are participating in the tournament.

The event will run until October 11th at the pool of the Luis Augusto Turcios Lima Sports Initiation School (EIDE), of this city, distant 100 km. east of Havana.

Boxing
Cuba secured 4 bronze medals and an equal number of men to the 1st day of the semifinals at the World Boxing Championship underway in Doha, capital of Qatar.

Of the 5 Cuban fighters who climbed the ring in the 1st quarterfinals cartel, only Pan monarch, Andy Cruz came out crestfallen at 56 kg to give in 3-0 facing Belarusian Dzmitry Asanau.

However, the young Johanys Argilagos (49 kg) gave Cuba the 1st to outdo the Irish, Brendan Irvine, European runner-up, by unanimous vote of 3-0, and will come up in the semifinals with Ukrainian Dmitro Zamotaev as the division provides only 2 seats to Rio de Janeiro 2016.

The other Cuban winners were Yasnier Toledo, who far exceeded the Armenian Hovhannes Bachkov 3-0 and will rival Russian Vitaly Dunaytsev; Arlén López (75 kg) won for the 2nd time the Ecuadorian Marlon Delgado and faces the Indian Krisham Vikas, ranking 4th AIBA, while Erislandy Savón (91 kg) defeated the Uzbek Rustam Tulaganov 3-0 and will bump into the Azeri Abdulkadir Abdullayev.

Cuba will be able to expand its harvest in the 2nd stage with the presence of Yosvani Veitia (52), Lázaro Álvarez (60), Roniel Iglesias (69) and Julio César La Cruz (81).

Volleyball
The Cuban squad took revenge and edged Puerto Rico 3-1 to discuss at this time the title at the NORCECA Men's Volleyball Tournament, based in Córdoba Arena, México, where and both teams are already qualified for the Final Four Tournament in January.

The ones run by Rodolfo Sanchez confirmed their power in attack (58-42) and blocking (13-5) to subdue the Puerto Ricans in 4 sets and avenge the setback in the quarterfinals of the Pan-American Games in Toronto.

For Cuba, Captain Rolando Cepeda guided the offensive and was the top scorer of the match with 24 points, followed by the auxiliary attacker Javier Jimenez (12), and central Tomas Luis Sosa and Livan Osoria with 11 each, while Héctor Soto (13) and Maurice Torres (10) commanded the Puerto Rican attack.

Thus, Cuba advanced directly to the semifinals by beating Costa Rica Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico, all in 3 sets, to lead Group B, while Puerto Ricans had to go to the cross-quarter and beat Costa Rica 3-0.

In the other semifinal match, Canada won in 5 sets and is favorite to win the Cubans on Saturday.

Prime Minister of East Timor Appreciates Support of Cuba in Sports

Before leaving Havana, the Prime Minister of East Timor, Rui Maria de Araujo, thanked Cuba's support in training of athletes and sports professionals during a visit to the Manuel "Piti" Fajardo University of Science, Physical Culture and Sports (UCCFD) in this capital.

The officer recognized the Cuban achievements in the activity, and stressed the importance of strengthening ties in this area saying that several Cuban coaches work in his country, where they have helped a lot in attracting athletes, especially in boxing.

Meanwhile, Hector Noa, Rector of the UCCFD, said the distinguished visitor that the university enrollment in 2015 is 375 thousand students, including 43 foreigners, who pass through a period of work experience from the 2nd year.

The Cuban rector also explained that the University has graduated 2 Timorese, who already give their knowledge in this Southeast Asian nation in pursuit of a better quality of life for their local population.

Rui Maria de Araujo was also interested in the subjects taught in the center of higher studies, sports that are part of the curriculum and improvement actions that are accessible to students.

Antonio Becali, president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) welcomed the Prime Minister of East Timor, who previously met Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz, concluded his official visit last Friday.