Baseball
Matanzas, Industriales, Pinar del Rio and Ciego de Ávila made the most of the beginning of the 2nd phase of the 54th Cuban Baseball Championship to complete sweeps in their respective commitments.
Matanzas' Los Cocodrilos overcame Granma by a closed 7-6 margin this Tuesday in a challenge decided in the 9th when the defeated pitcher Juan Carlos Viera deflected on a rookie Randy Camaraza's connection with loaded bases.
Yadiel Hernandez led the winning offensive with 4-2, 1 homer and 2 RBIs, with the reinforcement of Alexei Bell, who hit 5-3 and 3 runs scored, while Pedro Agüero took the success as a reliever.
Pinar del Río emphasized its upward trend with easy 7-0 victory over Isla de la Juventud, with great performance of skillful Vladimir Baños, allowing only 3 hits in 7 innings.
Andrés Quiala took off double and drove in 3 for winners who took the sweep to climb and now shares the 4th place with their victims on duty, Ciego de Ávila.
The Avilanians' Los Tigres put out of action Holguín 11-0 with offensive highlight of its catcher Osvaldo Vazquez, 4-3, with 2 homers and 5 RBIs, and José A. García's home run and 2 RBIs.
The star Ismel Jiménez spread 4 hits in 6 chapters for adding his 6th victory, while the other star Vladimir Garcia, showed recovery when removing a smooth episode.
Finally, Industriales completed the sweep by winning 7-2 to Artemisa, with credit for the novice Raidel Orta and offensive role of veteran first baseman Alexander Malleta, author of 1 home run and 2 trailers.
Matanzas leads with 34 wins and 14 lost, 5 games ahead of Granma (29-19), now besieged by Industriales (28-20), and followed by Ciego de Ávila, Isla de la Juventud and Pinar del Río tied with 27-21, while Artemisa (25-23) and Holguin (23-25) fall further behind.
Cycling
Cuban cycling is living tense but competitive moving days because firstly, its National Cycling Team is to participate in the 50th Cycling Tour of Tachira, Venezuela, as reported in this capital by Alejandro Teran, Vice-Minister of Popular Power for Sports and Youth of Venezuela.
Terán said that 7 foreign teams confirmed attendance to the largest and oldest regional cycling event, from next January 9th until 20th covering 1287 km. between the Portuguesa, Barinas, Mérida and Táchira states.
Subsequently, the world champion and Olympic silver Yoanka González, leads the Cuban team on route to intervene in the 2nd edition of the Women's Tour of San Luis in Argentina, along with Yeima Torres, Mailín Sánchez, Claudia Baró and Iraida García, and coached by Alfredo López, while the male version of the circuit will gather Arnold Alcolea, Yennier López, Félix Nodarse, Jan Carlos Arias and Onel Santa Clara, under the orders of Henry Rodriguez, from 19th-25th next month.
In the list, category 2.2 of the International Cycling Union and covering 393 km divided into 6 stages, will receive 9 Argentinean and 10 foreign teams.
Finally, 5 Cuban cyclists appear included in the group of 72 figures of America who will compete for their respective countries at the 3rd and final phase of the World Cup 2014-2015, from 16th to 18th next in Cali, Colombia.
The list, issued by the International Cycling Union, states that 308 competitors will roll on at the Alcides Nieto Patiño Velodrome in the South American metropolis, representing 38 national federations as well as 3 professional teams from Wales, Japan and China.
The Pan-American Cycling Confederation's bulletin also outlined that some other 146 riders from Europe, 72 from America, 53 from Asia and 28 in Oceania, in which Colombia and Russia are the most represented with 17 each, have already confirmed their attendance.
For Cuba, they will battle in the categories of individual and sprint team, the omnium, and team pursuit to classify for the World Championships in Paris, France, in coming February, as the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016, Brazil, Lisandra Guerra, Yumari González, Arlenis Sierra, Marlies Mejias and Yudelmis Dominguez, represented by Hector Ruiz, along with coaches Leonel Alvarez and Florencio Perez.
