Pole Vault Diamond League
Cuban female pole vaulter Yarisley Silva won the gold medal at the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala, the 4th stage of the 2014 Diamond League held in Rome on Thursday.
The Olympic runner-up in London in 2012 and World Indoor Champion in Sopot 2014, won the competition jumping over 4.70 meters in her 3rd attempt, reaching the best record in the 2014 Season to win the event with 6 of 8 possible points, while Germans Lisa Rusih (4.60) and Silke Spiegelburg (4.60) got the silver and the bronze medals, respectively.
Parallel, Cuban athlete Sahily Diago won the silver medal in the 800 flat meters, with 2:00.01 min., only excelled by Kenyan Eunice Jepkoech Sum, who got 1:59.49.
Among men, Cuban triple jumper Lázaro Martínez got the bronze with 17.07, in an event won by Will Claye (gold, 17.14) and Christian Taylor (silver, 17.11), both from the US. Colombian female triple jumper Caterine Ibarguen, who won her event with 14.48 meters to climb to the top of the Diamond League with 8 points, meanwhile the silver medal went to Russian Yekaterina Koneva with 14,42, and Cuban Mabel Gay got the bronze with 14,38.
Judo Grand Prix in Cuba
The President of the International Judo Federation (IJF), the Austrian Marius Vizer, reiterated his confidence in the success of the Grand Prix of Havana, which is running from today until Sunday in the Cuban capital.
Speaking to Prensa Latina news agency, the executive said that working closely with the Cuban Institute of Sports, Cuban authorities and IJF, the event will be a total success and will help to further boost the discipline in Cuba and the Pan-American area.
This event is the first scoring tournament for Rio de Janeiro-2016 Olympic Games and is attended by 297 athletes (154 men and 143 women) from 40 countries.
Vizer, originally from Romania, stressed that Cuba receives a just reward and recognition for its performance and has won respect and support worldwide with its promotion of judo and other disciplines.
Today the event began with the 48, 52 and 57 Kg divisions for ladies and 60 and 66 for men. On Saturday, divisions 63 and 70 (f) and 73 and 81 (m) will compete, and the 78 and over 78 (f) and 90, 100 and over 100 (m) divisions will close on Sunday.
The gold winners will receive 500 points for the ranking, the silver (300) and bronze (200), while the occupants of 5th places will be awarded 100 units. The Grand Prix of Havana, encouraged by 6 Olympic champions London-2012 and 3 world champions from Rio de Janeiro-2013, is one of 12 in this category of the IJF, and was given to Cuba in January 2013 during Mr. Vizer's visit to the Caribbean country.
Soccer World Cup Qualifying
Cuban women's soccer team will not attend Canada 2015 World Cup after being eliminated in the qualifying tournament held in Haiti.
The pupils of Coach Constantino Valdés played 2 games at Bayas Park, in the town of Mirebalais, and ended with balance of 1 win and a costly defeat in Group 4 of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).
In the first match they beat Suriname 2-0, with goals by the attacking midfielder Rachel Pelaez (62nd minute) through a penalty kick, and the forward Yoanna Calderon ('83).
But on the other game, which granted the berth to the final CFU stage, they were defeated 0-1 by the hosts through an own goal by defender Dayanai Baró (86th minute).
The final will be held from August 17th to 27th in Trinidad and Tobago, which qualified directly by being the host.
It is already known that Antigua, Martinique and Bermuda won their respective groups. So it is just needed to define Poole 5th in which Anguilla, Jamaica, St. Lucia and the local Dominican Republic are enrolled.
