Swimming: US Open in Bismarck, North Dakota
A total of 11 medals and a record by Yunerki Ortega closed the performance of four Cuban para-swimmers in the US Open that took place from Dec. 10th to the 12th in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Ortega, women’s S12 class 50m butterfly, finished second in 29,30 seconds after Japanese Keiichi Kimura. Both swimmers achieved the same places in the 200m individual medley contest.
A day before in the BSC Aquatic and Wellness Center, Ortega had won the gold medal in 50m freestyle in 30,84 seconds.
Cubans Lorenzo Pérez, Osdani Madrigal and Juan Castillo had also a good performance. Paralympic runner-up champion in London 2012, Lorenzo Pérez, won the men's freestyle S6 class 50m with 30.20s and 100m with 1 minute and 7 seconds.
Osdani Madrigal won four gold medals in the event including the 100m in 1 minute and 9 seconds and 200m in 2 minutes and 48 seconds for contestants qualified as S12 freestyle para-swimmers.
Juan Castillo won three gold medals in butterfly style 50m with 29.34 seconds and 200m in 2 minutes and 37 seconds.
With the participation of 11 countries, Pérez and Ortega showed again their class and possibilities for the Paralympic Games in Río de Janeiro 2016.
Athletics: Usain Bolt to run in London Anniversary Games
Jamaica's Usain Bolt will prepare for the Rio Olympics by competing at the 2016 London Anniversary Games.
The six-time Olympic champion returns to the track where he won triple gold at the 2012 London Olympics to take part in the event on the 22nd and the 23rd of July next year.
London, which is part of the IAAF Diamond League Series, will host Bolt's final race before Rio 2016.
The 29-year-old retained his 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles at the Beijing World Championships in 2015.
Usain Bolt will look to defend his 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles at the Rio Olympics.
IOC: Athletes Commission for Rio 2016 Olympics
The IOC elected Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler Mijaín López to represent Cuba in the Athletes Commission for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016, the Cuban Olympic Committee confirmed on Monday.
Other 24 athletes approved include Argentinian Luis Scola, winner in Athens 2004 and bronze medalist in Beijing 2008; Brazilian Robert Scheid, gold medalist in Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 and silver in Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008.
Mijaín López, five times world champion, was elected best wrestler of the Island in 2015.
Baseball: MLB ball players visit Cuba
Several current and former baseball players, as well as Joe Torre and other baseball officials, are coming to Cuba today for a three-day goodwill tour put together by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association of the United States.
Over the next three days, they will conduct children’s baseball clinics and participate in charity events, according to media reports.
Details of the program and objectives of the visit will be announced at a press conference scheduled for the Hotel Nacional in Havana.
US Baseball’s last interaction with Cuba came in 1999, when the Orioles and the Cuban National Team played a home-and-home series in Havana and Baltimore.
With the thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations in the past year, however, the door is now opening for a more normalized relationship and will begin with this tour.
