Baseball

Solid pitching work of star Yosvani Torres allowed the current monarch Pinar del Río to resume its wins in the 54th Cuban Baseball Championship, by beating 3-1 to Matanzas.

Torres filed his 8th win of the Season to put up only 3 hits while striking out 4 rivals in 7 and 2/3 episodes, supported by Vladimir Gutiérrez' 12th rescue, while lefty Cionel Pérez charged with the failure.

At another stop, Alexander Malleta homered, while Lisbán Correa and Yunieski Gourriel drove in 2 per capita to guide Industriales in its 11-6 victory over the battered Holguin, which with each new defeat, sinks deeper into the bottom of the ladder.

Then, in the afternoon, Artemisa exceeded 8-4 to Ciego de Avila in extended dueling of only 7 innings because of rain in the west of the country, which also spoiled the bilateral shootout between Granma and Isla de la Juventud.

Following Tuesday's results, Matanzas leads with 39 and 19, escorted by Granma (37-20), Industriales (33-25), Isla de la Juventud (31-26), Artemisa and Pinar del Río (31-27), Ciego de Ávila (30-28), and Holguin (27-31).

And another good baseball news says that there is almost total certainty that Cuba will participate in the Caribbean Series of Professional Baseball to be played in Puerto Rico, said the president of the Confederation of Caribbean Professional Baseball, the Dominican Juan Puello Herrera.

"It's 99% sure that Cuba will come to the Caribbean Series... it was a very complicated deal. We have been working with this process since last May. Once completed the participation in Venezuela, I began to make arrangements to Cuba participate again. Though politically speaking it has been more complicated and we have not received visas for Cuba so far, will will insist on it, since the whole process is well underway and we expect to achieve them, "said Puello Herrea at a recent press conference in San Juan, who then forward said: "Our intention is but the permanent presence of Cuba to participate every year."

As part of the activities within this major regional event, a ceremony will be held to exalt to 6 players from the region to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Caribbean Baseball Museum: Puerto Ricans Roberto Clemente, Bernie Williams, Juan "Igor" Gonzalez and Hector Villanueva, and Cubans Napoleon Reyes and Conrado Marrero.

 Cycling
The Cuban sprinter Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez takes part at a training base in the Colombian city of Cali until next February 7th under the tutelage of experienced coach Florencio Pérez, with her sights set on the World Track Championships will host Paris, France, the 18th to 22nd of the same month, and Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Parallel, the multi-laureate coach Leonel Alvarez returned home on Monday with his pupils, young Marlies Mejía --4th in the omnium at the World Cup lid of Cali--, Arlenis Sierra, and experienced Yumari González and Yudelmis Dominguez, who will continue training for the Pan-American Championships in track and road, and Toronto 2015 Pan-American Games.

Boxing

The Cuban Boxing Federation confirmed that three world champions will be part of Cuba's Los Domadores competing against Algeria's Desert Hawks, in the 5th World Series of Boxing.

The champions in Baku-2011 and Almaty-2013 Lazaro Alvarez (60 kg) and Julio Cesar Cruz (81 kg), along with the monarch of Milan-2009 Roniel Iglesias (69kg), will lead the Caribbean squad in its 2nd presentation.

They will be accompanied by bronze-medal winner in Almaty-2013 Yosbany Veitia (52kg) and the champion at the Guadalajara Youth Championship 2008 Leinier Pero (over 91kg), all national champions in their respective categories.

The report of the Cuban Federation also informed the team will be coached by Rolando Acebal, head of the technical collective, Julian Gonzalez Cedeno and July Mena.

Domadores had a stunning debut last Friday, sweeping 5-0 the Morocco Atlas Lions. It has been the only franchise that managed to succeed so categorically in Group A.

For its part, the Hawks postponed their premiere against Russia for a date, yet to be set, so their debut will be next Saturday against the reigning champions of the series.

Cuban Trout Fishing Tournament

The 33rd Incendio de Bayamo Trout Fishing National Tournament, which began on January 17th, at Leonero lagoon, in the municipality of Río Cauto, Granma province, ends today with an award ceremony will take place at Francisco Maceo Osorio Square, in the historic center of the city.

The competition involves 16 pairs of athletes, including the top 5 Cuban couples and others from the provinces of Granma, Pinar del Rio, Havana, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Camaguey, Las Tunas, Holguin and Guantanamo.

The event is held on an annual basis, on the anniversary of the burning of Bayamo City by its inhabitants, action that took place on January 12th, 1869, when the Cuban patriots, after occupying the city for 85 days, were forced to leave it.

Maritime Youth Baseball Players Headed to Cuba for ‘Goodwill Tour’

At the end of this month, more than 400 young baseball players from Atlantic Canada will be traveling to Cuba, to enjoy the sun and spread some goodwill, Ray Bradshaw reports for Global News Canada.

It's called the Goodwill Tour. Bradshaw says the idea is to play some baseball, establish friendships and support the Cubans in improving their baseball system and school programs.

The Goodwill Tour has grown from two Nova Scotia teams in its first year, to five from this province --two of them female-- plus two from PEI, and one each from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Winnipeg. The players from 10 to 16 years of age will play baseball over a 3-week period in February in Matanzas, Cuba.

“It's one of the safest places I've ever seen and one of the most passionate places I've ever been in regards to baseball,” says Dennis Woodworth, Program Developer of the Goodwill Tour, when asked why the group chose to go to that region.

Besides playing ball each day, Woodworth has other plans for the Cubans and Canadians. “We have bus tours throughout the week,” he says. “We have Cuban kids coming to our resorts on Thursdays, we visit schools on Wednesdays, so we give a real depiction of what it’s like to live in a third world country.”

As part of the exchange program, Canadian teams will hand out $75,000 worth of baseball equipment and school supplies, donated by companies and minor baseball associations across the Maritime provinces.

A bonus for the Canadian team: former major league players Bill Lee and Devon White will be guest coaches with the teams during the first week of the tour. In March, the organization will hold fund-raising dinners in hopes of bringing a Cuban team to the Maritimes in late June.

ITU President to Visit Cuba in Coming Days

The Ibero-American Triathlon Championships to be held on January 24th and 25 in this city will be attended by Spanish Marisol Casado, president of the International Union of the discipline (ITU).

Casado, also a member of the International Olympic Committee, will arrive on Thursday to Cuba, one day before the official presentation of the event, the press and propaganda department of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation reported.

The contest, which takes place for the first time in Cuba, will host sprint events, consisting of 750 meters of swim, 20 kilometer of bike and 5 km running; medium distance (1.9 km, 90 km and 21 km) and large distance (3.8 km, 180 km and 42 km), the latter with similar dimensions to the Ironman circuit.

For this occasion, the sprint category will grant points to the ranking for qualifying to Toronto 2015 Pan American Games (Canada) and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016 (Brazil), this event will start and finish at the Hemingway Marina.

Rolando Herrera, member of the National Federation of the discipline, said that there is a contract with ITU for the contest to take place in Cuba for four consecutive years, while it is expected that Havana to host in 2019 one of the stops of the World Circuit, in addition to serve as training base for any athlete of the world.

So far, it is confirmed the participation of 14 women from seven countries and 24 men, from 11 nations, for the sprint event, while in the medium and large distance there are about 180 athletes from 23 nationalities.