Baseball
Matanzas took revenge on the 54th Cuban Baseball Championship to overcome 7-1 to Industriales this Tuesday to be consolidated at the top of the Table with 37 wins and 16 losses.

Lefty Cionel Perez showed his quality by allowing just 1 hit and 1 clean in 5 innings, although the success corresponded to reliever Adrián Sosa, perfect from the mound for 2 and a third chapters.

Matanzas' Los Cocodrilos secured the victory with decisive cluster of 6 in the 7th with offensive highlight of 1st baseman Jefferson Delgado, who hit 3-2 with 1 RBI.

Meanwhile, Granma battled for 11 episodes to leave Artemisa on the field by 7-6, grieving defined by appropriate single from pop batter Yaciel Jiménez who drove in Yordanis Samón, while facing Israel Sánchez' defeated pitcher.

The veteran reliever Ciro Silvino Licea won success and Yordanis Samón hit 5-2 with 1 double, 2 runs scored and 1 driven in as the leading highlight of the winning drive, while Danel Castro pulled up for the defeated to paste 4-3 with 1 homer and 4 trailers.

Isla de la Juventud filed its 2nd straight victory as host by knocking down 12-2 to Holguin, with effective work of opener Ulfrido García, supported by artillery attack of 13 hits led by 1st baseman Rigoberto Gómez, 4-3, 1 double and 2 RBIs.

Finally, Holguín settled 6-4 to Pinar del Rio, with credit for Carlos Santiestebán, who spread 5 hits and 2 cleans in 7 chapters, backed by Yunier Suárez' rescue, while the defeat went to the star Freddy Asiel Álvarez.

Edilse Silva commanded Holguin's Los Sabuesos offensive by connecting 4-3, with 1 homer and 2 trailers, while Donal Duarte, Dennis Laza and Andrés Quiala also homered in favor of the current national monarchs.

So, Matanzas remains comfortably in front of the ladder with 37-16, escorted by Granma (33-20), Industriales (30-23), Isla de la Juventud (29-24), Pinar del Río (29-24), Artemisa (28-25), Ciego de Ávila (28-25), and Holguin (26-27).

Judo

The Olympic and world multi awarded Yanet Bermoy and the Olympic runner-up Yalennis Castillo, heads a Cuban judo female team to take part in an international tournament in New York next March, with the goal of accumulating points for the Olympic ranking, coach Ronaldo Veitia said here.

Besides Bermoy (52kg) and Castillo (78), the team also includes Dayaris Mestre (48), Aliuska Ojeda (57) and Olga Masferrer (63), Veitia added, who also confirmed that the New York Judo Tournament will be attended by the island country, France, Canada and the hosting country.

After the US competition, Cuban judo girls plan to participate at the Games of the Bolivarian Alliance of our America (ALBA) in April and the Continental Judo Tournament in Canada, which provides tickets for the Pan-American Games in Toronto next July.

Bolivia Wants to Host Dakar Rally Again in 2016

Bolivian President Evo Morales recently proposed hosting again the Dakar Rally 2016, across more of the country.

"My greatest wish is to host the rally over 4 or 5 days in 3 or 4 departments," Morales told reporters at a press conference before the start of Day 8th in this year's race, which took competitors from Bolivia's Uyini salt flats to the town of Iquique, in neighboring Chile.

Morales, who was at the site to see off the racers, said both of the editions Bolivia has hosted so far, including last year's cap, have satisfied the organizers, the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), but the decision lies with the competitors.

"There's not much to say, the organizers are on board, but the main defenders of holding the Dakar in Bolivia are the racers," said the President Morales, who believes the race helps generate much-needed revenue for the small South-American nation.

Juan Ramón Quintana, Minister of the Presidency, said the race was having a notable impact on the economy, especially the tourism industry.

"The Dakar Rally is transforming the economy, the living conditions in the southern region, especially in Uyuni," where the number of Japanese visitors has increased by 500% in the last year, said Quintana, without providing any figures.

"The number of foreigners in the region has grown strongly and significantly, and it's not a coincidence that in less than a year, we have seen exponential growth in tourism infrastructure," he added.

The rally's motorcycle and quad racers traversed part of the 10,000-square-kilometer salt flats for the first time ever this year, during the rugged off-road race's trajectory through Bolivia.