Boxing

Five Cuban boxers are competing at the Serik Konabayev Boxing Tournament, underway from May 12th to the 18th in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, Cuba's sports media reports.

The squad is headed by Pan-American champion Leinier Peró, and includes light welterweight and 2012 world junior champion Kevin Brown, light flyweight Santiago Amador, bantamweight Norlán Yera and lightweight Armando Martínez.

According to the source, Cuba's boxing officials will closely watch Yera's performance, which could garner him an invitation to join the ranks of Los Domadores, the Cuban boxing team competing in the finals of the World Series of Boxing next June.

The tournament gathers 80 fighters from 17 countries and regions, including boxing world powers such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Mongolia and China.

Chess

Cuban GM Leinier Domínguez, with black pieces, will face Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk in the 6th round of the Capablanca Memorial Chess Tournament that takes place at Havana-Riviera hotel.

Leinier (2768 Elo points) owns 3 units and goes second of the Elite Group where Ivanchuk (2753) is surprisingly in the bottom of the standings with only 1.5 points among the 6 GMs enrolled.

The other matches will cover Filipino Wesley So (2731), current leader with 3.5 units, and the local Lázaro Bruzón (2682), who owns 2.5 points, and last year winner Hungarian Zoltan Almasi (2 693 and also 2.5 points) against Spanish Francisco Vallejo (2 700), who appears 5th with 2 units.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the Premier Group, Swiss Sebastian Bogner (2593) and Cuban Yusnel Bacallao (2522), both total 3.5 units, will face the host Carlos Hevia (2530) and Italian Danyyil Dvirnyy (2660), respectively.

Parallel, the IMs Juan Carlos Obregon (2509) from Cuba and Spanish José Fernando Cuenca (2489), tops the standings of the Open 1st with 4.5 points, and their opponents will be the IM Pedro Alejandro Jiménez (2463) and FIDE Master (FM) Yunier Leyva (2414), both locals, who followed them with 4 units.

Volleyball

Cuba will face Curacao today in the North, Central American and Caribbean NORCECA Women's Volleyball Tournament that will run through May 17th at the Havana's Sports City Coliseum, where the winner will get a ticket to the World Cup in Italy.

The opening match will be at 3:00 pm between Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago, while the host squad game takes place at 5:00 pm., said Cuban coach Juan Carlos Gala who noted that Cuba will always play at 5:00 pm. on Thursdays and Fridays.

The final is scheduled for Saturday, with the possible match between Cubans and Trinitarians, a game that will define the team attending the world championship, to be held from September 23rd to October 12th.

Although some specialists-including Gala-point Cuba as favorite, the fact is that the Trinitarian team has players competing in the leagues of Russia, France and Poland.

Beach Games

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro inaugurated the 3rd South American Beach Games at the Hugo Chavez Sports Center in the Venezuelan coastal state of Vargas with competition in 4 disciplines gathering athletes from 14 countries.

There will be qualifying competitions in handball, tennis and water skiing on the first day, while triathlon will have its finals.

The facility, which was especially built for the occasion at a cost of 210 million bolivars ($ 33.3 million) and capacity for 3,500 people in its main field, and along with other 5 similar sport centers, is part of the strategy of Venezuelan sports authorities to make the State of Vargas as a permanent venue for regional sand events. Open water, sailing, volleyball, soccer, surfing and rugby complete the list of sports included in the calendar of activities planned until May 24th.

More than 500 athletes from Argentina, Aruba, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Guyana, Chile, Bolivia, Suriname, Peru, Panama and Venezuela will fight for a total of 117 medals.

Argentina and Venezuela with the largest delegations with 107 and 103 members, respectively, are favorites to lead the competitions, after Brazil's decision to attend with only 39 competitors.

About 8,000 officers from different security bodies will ensure peace in all areas involved with the games, and the carrying of all firearms was temporarily suspended for the occasion in Vargas until May 25th.

Archery

The qualifying events for the 2nd stop of the Archery World Cup began at the Luis Alberto Villegas baseball stadium in Medellin, Colombia, gathering more than 300 athletes from 37 countries.

This phase covers the competitive and qualifying events, Mixed Team category, with the presence of the best figures of the world, including the Cuban national champ Juan Carlos Stevens, 45 years old, who seek to improve his performance of 2013 when he closed among the 32 best athletes.

The final will be on Saturday, the 17th and on Sunday, the 18th at the North City Park, while the Turkish city of Antalya and the Polish of Wroclaw will host from June 10th-15th and August 5th-10th, respectively, the seats of a lid whose final will be hosted by Lausanne, Switzerland, from September 5th to the 7th.