Pan-American Sports Festival

Cuba expanded today its golden booty in taekwondo at the Pan-American Sports Festival held in Mexico, adding another 3 gold medals to the previous 2 reached yesterday to command the Standings in that sport.

This time, world champion Glenhis Hernández imposed her superiority in +67 kilos and won Brazilian Erica Adriane in the final, and the Dominican Julisa Rodriguez took the bronze, while Olympic gold medalist, Robelis Despaigne, defeated Costa Rican Kristopher Moitland in +80 kg., category where only 2 competitors were presented.

Meanwhile, his compatriot José Ángel Cobas won in the -80 kilos to Brazilian Lucas Ferreira, while Venezuelan Alexander Rondón and Costa Rican José Venegas, closed with silver and bronze, in that order.

Finally, the Cubans Yamicel Núñez (57) and Yosbel Pérez (68), climbed to the top by beating the Brazilian Josiane Oliveira and Charles Goltara, respectively.
Thus, Cuba scored 5 gold and 1 silver medals, managed by Osvaldo Llorens (58), who was defeated by the Venezuelan Williams Cortéz in the final.

Mexico, host of the festival that brings together 3600 athletes in 23 disciplines, finished in 2nd place in taekwondo with 4-4-0, followed by Brazil (3-4-0), Dominican Republic (2-0-3) and Guatemala (1-0-0).

Athletics

The 2012 world junior champion, the heptathlon young player, yorgelis Rodriguez, leads the group of 4 Cuban athletes competing today Tuesday in the 1st day of the XV World Athletics Championship, youth category, which takes place from July 22nd to 27th in Oregon, USA.

Yorgelis, who won 2 years ago in Barcelona, Spain, with 5966 points, will defend her crown in the first 4 of the 7 scheduled tests, 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 meter dash.

If she wins the title, Yorgelis would equal the performance of the javelin thrower Osleidis Menéndez, who won the World Cup in 1996 in Sydney, Australia, and 1998 in Annecy, France.

Also on opening day is scheduled to begin the decathlon event with the presence of Cuban Santiago Alonso, the playoffs of 110 meter hurdles involving Roger Iribarne, and the preliminary of 800 meters for women where Sahily Diago intervenes.

Summing up, Cuba plays in the world junior with 18 athletes who seek to improve their results from 2 years ago when they reached 3 gold and 1 bronze medals.

The Island files 23 gold, 25 silver and 19 bronze medals in the history of these events.

Chess

87 players will participate in the V Ibero-American Chess Championship in the Spanish town of Linares, from July 22nd to 30th.

The Paraguayan Axel Bachman, with a rating of 2,652 points, excels as top seed, followed by Spanish David Antón with 2,631 and Peruvian Jorge Cori with 2,608 points.

The Ibero-American Chess Championship awards 18,000 Euros in prizes and for the first time will have an open character allowing more than 1 player from the 22 countries that belong to the federation, among which Andorra and Portugal are included.

This tournament was won in its previous 4 editions by the GMs, Cuban Lázaro Bruzón (2006), the Peruvian Julio Granda (2008), the Brazilian Gilberto Milos (2010), and the Spanish Iván Salgado (2012).

Basketball

Beginning today, the Cuban women's basketball team will play the Centrobásquet of Monterrey, Mexico, with a staff of 10 champion athletes who attended the World Pre-Qualifying of the Americas held in Xalapa, Mexico, last year, and 2 rookies, said the technical coach, Alberto Zabala.

The Centrobásquet awards 7 tickets to Veracruz-2014 and 4 for the Olympic qualifiers in the Americas and the Pan-American Games in Toronto, both in 2015.

Cuba will be in the Centrobásquet in Group B, along with El Salvador, U.S. Virgin Islands and Jamaica, while the A includes Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico.

The Cuban team won the World Pre-Qualifying of the Americas last year, to override higher level teams like Brazil and Canada, and achieved a berth for the World Championship in Turkey from September 27th to October 5th.