Boxing
The London 2012 Olympic champion in the fly category, Robeisis Ramirez, and the super complete Yoandri Toirac, will participate next weekend from December 4th-6th in a boxing fair in the city of Rio de Janeiro, host of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics Games, which are expected to be one of the most spectacular Olympic Games of all time, said the AIBA President Ching-Kuo Wu.
According to the official website of the International Boxing Federation (AIBA), the fair is part of a series of 44 Olympic and Paralympic events, which made the organizers of Rio, before the celebration of the summer event in August 2016.
Robeisis, which now competes in the 56 kg, is one of the 6 boxers to fight in his division, while Toirac, of +91 kg, is one of the 5 already confirmed by AIBA.
Cuba has 6 athletes already qualified for the Olympics in the categories of 49,52,60,64,75 and 91 kg.
Football
The Cuban soccer team will play a series of friendly games against Nicaragua and Honduras as part of its course to the playoffs for the America Centennial Cup preparation.
The cast led by Raúl González Triana will depart to Nicaragua on December 7th to lately continue to Honduras to face 4 duels overlooking the playoffs against Panama the upcoming January 8th.
On Panamanian soil, Cuba will play against the national team from the 9th-11th, while in Honduras, Cubans will face a team of 1st Division on December 14th to close against the local national team on the Saturday, December 19th.
After those stops, the ones led by Raúl González Triana will return again in early 2016 to Panama to address the qualifying stage at the Romel Fernandez Stadium in Panama City looking for a berth for the America's Cup to be played in its centenary in several US cities.
Chess
Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez advanced from 27th to 24th place in the world ranking of chess, as announced on Monday the International Federation of this discipline.
The main figure of the science game in Latin America, inactive in November, appears now with 2732 Elo points, which let him to close the 2015 ranked 24th in the world.
Leinier, 32 years old, played his last tournament last October at the European Club in Macedonia, played 59 classical games during 2015, and ended with 12 wins, 7 defeats and 40 draws, in addition to intervene in 8 competitions during this Season, remaining unbeaten in 3 of them.
Meanwhile, the other Cuban in the Top 100 world chess, GM Lázaro Bruzón, ended the year ranked 76th in the world rankings, after improving 15 points from the previous month, thanks to 1st place achieved in the Ibero-American Chess Tournament held in Spain.
The latest world ranking ratified the Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen on top with 2834 points, followed by his counterparts Bulgarian Vesselin Topalov, Indian Viswanathan Anand, Russian Vladimir Kramnik, and American Hikaru Nakamura.
Cycling
Only sprinter Lisandra Guerra competes for Cuba in the 2nd phase of the World Track Cup to be held in Cambridge, New Zealand, next weekend.
Meanwhile, an injury during one of her trainings deprived the omnium runner, Marliés Mejías, to attend this event, which grants points to the Olympic ranking.
Both have chances of qualifying in their respective fields for the Olympics in Rio but this will have to be only achieved with necessary points given in the 3 stops of the World Cup and the World Championship organized for London next March. The 3rd stop of the World Cup will be in Hong Kong from June 15th-17th.
Fencing
Cuban fencers Reynier Henríquez Ortiz and Yamirka Rodríguez Quesada will attend the Grand Prix de Espada to be held from December 5th-7th in Qatar.
Cuba sends only its best fencers as part of a strategy that seeks to improve its accumulated so that they can be classified by the Olympic roster to Rio de Janeiro.
With 36 points, Reynier is located in 52nd place in the world rankings while Yamirka now appears in 62nd with 26 points.
The Cuban Fencing Federation intends to send Yamirka and Reynier to attend all World Cups and Grand Prix as they give world ranking points; however, if they cannot achieve them in this way, both fencers will join the Cuban delegation that is represented in all categories and weapons, which look for next April their tickets to Rio.
Handball
Cuba’s women handball team will play in France its 5th friendly game before participating in the World Championship in several Danish cities from December 5th.
The National Commissioner Andrés Hurtado detailed that the Cuban team will face a club from the first division of the French Handball League.
The executive highlighted that Cuban girls played against elite teams like France and Romania, among the top 10. They also play against clubs from the 1st and 2nd division of France handball.
Cuba will play in Pool B against Poland, China, Netherlands, Sweden, and Angola.
Sports Collaboration
The Bolivian President Evo Morales confirmed the possibility of increasing sports collaboration with Cuba in disciplines such as Athletics.
During our visit to Paris, we met with Cuban First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel and talked about strengthening our links in sports to win an Olympic medal, Morales stated in a press conference.
He commented that athletics would be one of the fields to be strengthened and announced that one of the biggest stars in this sport in Cuba and worldwide, Ana Fidelia Quirot, could support this initiative.
