Baseball
Cuba survived a 9-inning meltdown to defeat Puerto Rico 8-7 in 10 long innings on Thursday at the 2015 WBSC Premier 12 Baseball Tournament, based at the Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan, to lead Pool A and improved to 2 wins and 1 loss, while Puerto Rico dropped to 1 win and 2 losses.
The game was decided in the first extra inning of this tournament with the WBSC Extra-Inning Rule in place, Puerto Rico loaded the bases in the top of the tenth, but failed to bring home a run. In the bottom half of the frame, Yordán Manduley scored the game-winner on a ground ball to first by Yasiel Santoya. Puerto Rico tried to turn the double play to get out of the inning, but after getting the force out at 2nd, the relay back to first pulled the fielder off the bag and Santoya was safe.
It was another example how cruel baseball can be at times. Entering the 9th inning, Puerto Rico was down 2-7 and looked like a sure loser. But 3 consecutive hits by Jorge Jimenez, Joiset Feliciano and Alexis Pantoja made it 4-7 with 1 out. After Jay Gonzalez struck out and Jack Lopez got hit by a 2-2 pitch, Richard Thon stepped to the plate and sent an offering over the wall in left field for a 3-run homer to tie the game.
But in the end Cuba prevailed. One day after rallying against the Netherlands, they gave away not only a big lead in the 9th, but also a 2-0 advantage earlier in the contest. But by scoring in 4 of the 5 frames between the 4th and the 8th, Cuba got back ahead.
Alex Malleta and Alfredo Despaigne set the highlights with a 2-run triple in the 1st and a solo homer in the 5th. Yunieski Gourriel went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Then, Aldo Mendez hit a solo homer for Puerto Rico to tie the game for the first time in the 4th to finish with 4 hits and 4 RBIs.
Freddy Alvarez got the starting nod from manager Victor Mesa. He conceded just 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 6 2/3 innings and struck out 5. Puerto Rico’s starter Randy Fontanez II gave up 6 hits, 4 runs and 1 base on balls in 3-plus innings. Both received a no-decision due to the wild ending to the game.
After the scheduled rest day on Friday, both teams will be back on the field on Saturday with Cuba taking on Chinese Taipei in the evening game at the Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung while Puerto Rico will face the Netherlands earlier on the day at the same field.
Football
The team of Los Guerreros Santos Laguna traveled to Havana, where on Saturday will look to win for the 2nd time the Copa Aeromexico, now facing the national team of Cuba.
With the 6th anniversary of the team, the visitors held their last training activities on Wednesday focused on different technical strategies, which were monitored in detail by its coach Paco Ayestarán.
The First Team of Santos Laguna will arrive in the late hours of this Thursday night to Jose Marti Airport in Havana, and will train at Havana's Pedro Marrero Stadium on Friday at 11:00 am. local time.
In relation to this historic compromise, the visiting captain, Carlos Izquierdo told Mexican media: "The fact of living this impressive experience to visit a country with so much history, one never imagined to play a game of this magnitude, and for what it means for the Club and the Mexican Soccer, we will take it seriously as we represent the entire country."
Badminton
Cuba's Osleni Guerrero will compete November 17th-21st in the International Badminton Tournament hosted by Suriname.
Guerrero, Guadalajara 2011 runner-up, will make his first appearance on the 18th of November against the Mexican Arturo Hernandez, as reflected in the official site of the contest.
The 1st Cuban racket and 64th in the world ranking, will attend the Fair with the aim of accumulating points on the world list, the last Olympic qualifying process that closes on May 1st next year.
So far this Season, the Cuban won the crown in the 16th edition of the Giraldilla Tournament of Havana last March, besides the title in the International of Chile.
Among the main opponents of the Cuban in the lid of Suriname stand for the American Howard Shu, 2nd in the organization, Italian Indra Bagus (3rd), and the Canadian Martin Giuffre (4th), and precisely Giuffre eliminated Cuban Osleni in the semifinals in Toronto last July.
Wrestling
After his successful debut in the German Tournament Clubs, Cuban gladiator Mijail Lopez returned to the Bundesliga to intervene with the Nendingen local team in the play off stage.
The double Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 departed today for Germany where he will be until December 14th to take part in at least 2 fights during the quarterfinals and semifinals stage.
Speaking to Radio Havana Cuba, the Cuban universal pentachamp evaluated as very satisfactory the presence of Cubans in the German Bundesliga pointing out that "...this is one of the most profitable events because it is 1 year before the Olympics, a very important cap to meet that date with the quality and performance my people and my coaches deserve and get my 3rd Olympic gold medal."
In Nendingen club debut in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, Mijaín defeated 6-2 to Hungarian Balint Lam while trying to defend the Bundesliga crown.
Two years after the hiring policy of athletes approved by the Sports Institute of Cuba (INDER), Cuban wrestling opened the doors to the tournament clubs that will undoubtedly help their athletes' current performance and benefit them with contracts in the future.
