Taekwondo

Cuba gained 4 titles of 5 possible at the 7th Taekwando Open of Costa Rica, which was held in San José, the capital.

The contest, which gave the winners 10 points for the world ranking, was crowned the world champions of 2013, Rafael Alba and Glenys Hernández and the world bronze medalists in 2013, Yamicel Núñez and Robelis Despaigne, the latter, also bronze in 2012 London Olympics.

For countries, Mexico led the competition with 8 gold medals, escorted by Cuba with 4, Colombia with 2, and the United States and Canada, 1 each.

Chess

Cuban GM Leinier Domínguez fell to the 13th place on the world list, but remains as leader in the Ibero-American region, according to the last ranking published today by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Domínguez accumulates 2.755 Elo score, followed by his compatriot Lázaro Bruzón, who dropped several positions and is now number 59th on the planet.

The others Latin Americans in the first 100 positions are Peruvian GM Julio Granda, who climbed to 66th place, and Venezuelan Eduardo Iturrizaga, who also improved his position and now holds the 90th seat.

Leading the classification remains Norwegian Magnus Carlsen with 2.870 Elo points, escorted by the Armenian Levon Aronian (2.804) and Italian Fabiano Caruana (2.801), and Russian Alexander Grischuk (2.789).

For his part, former world champion, Indian GM Viswanathan Anand, regained the 5th place, followed by Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, while U.S. Hikaru Nakamura fell to 7th spot.

The other remarkable movement in the top 10 is registered by Russian Serguei Kariakin, 24 years old, who descended from the 6th to the 8th position, who is followed by French Maxime Vacher-Lagrave (2.768) and Russian Vladimir Kramnik (2.760).

Wrestling

Seven Cuban gladiators meet a training base of 8 days in Rome, Italy, with a view to attend the Greco-Roman Wrestling World Championship to be held from September 8th-14th in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Volleyball

Cuba made its debut in the Group B of the World Volleyball Championship, in several Polish cities, and was beaten by Finland 3-2, while Bulgaria beat Mexico 3-0.

The Cuban team won the 1st set 25-18 and the 2nd, 25-21, but lost the remaining three sets, 25-27, 23-25 and the Tie Break by 12-15, to let go on escape a victory that can be fundamental for its aspirations; however, Finland managed to perform one big comeback, since it came to be 6 points behind Cuba in the 3rd set.

Olli- Pekka Ojansivu was the best player for the winners with 23 points, while Javier Jimenez stood out for Cuba with 21 points.

It was one meeting in which both team made a lot of errors in the playground, 101 by the Caribbean team, for 102 of the Europeans.

The next opponents of the Cuban squad within the preliminary stage will be Germany, on Wednesday, South Korea on Friday, Tunisia on Saturday, and Brazil on Sunday.

For their part, Mexico was inferior to Bulgaria and lost 0-3 (16-25, 17-25 and 21-25) in Group C. In this way Bulgaria starts with a good pace on this tournament, in which it hopes to improve the 7th place obtained in the last edition of the World Cup Italy-2010.

Meanwhile, Brazil is searching its 4th consecutive world title, and started with one clear 3-0 victory (25-21, 25-19 and 25-17) over Germany in its debut in the tournament.

For its part, Russia, champion of the London 2012 Olympic Games, also started with a 3-0 victory over Canada (25-21, 25-19 and 25-21). Later, South Korea will meet Tunisia in Group B, and China-Egypt will rival in Group C.

Pope & Maradona Meet Over Peace Match

Argentine football legend Diego Maradona met briefly on Monday with Pope Francis, an avid football fan, ahead of the Match for Peace.

Pope Francis organized the match at the Olympic Stadium in Rome to raise funds to fight hunger.

The 1986 World Cup champion gave the Pope an Argentinian national team jersey with the name "Francisco" on the back.

Javier Zanetti's Pupi Foundation team came out victors in the match, winning 6-3 thanks to 3 goals from young Argentine star Mauro Icardi.

The biggest cheers throughout the clash were for Diego, who rolled back the years with a pass in the first half that set up Roberto Baggio for Scholus' 2nd goal of the evening.

The match kicked off at 4pm Argentine time, and was preceded by the planting of an olive tree on the Olympic pitch, a symbol of peace that has been used in local football since Pope Francis took over the Holy See.

About 50 football stars and historical legends are expected to feature today at the Olympic Stadium in Rome for an inter-religious exhibition match also organized upon Pope Francis’ request, that seeks to promote world peace and understanding.