Baseball

The Cuban player Yulieski Gourriel denied today having being disrespected with the contract linking him to the Yokohama Bay Stars DeNA club from the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB).

The Cuban star said in remarks published in Cuban newspaper Trabajadores that he was never properly informed about the date of his return to the team with which he played last year on Japanese diamonds.

On these issues, Heriberto Suárez Pereda, holder of the National Baseball Directorate (DNB), agency in charge of applying policies of Cuban baseball, said in an interview published on the Cubadebate official website that hiring Cuban athletes is in increasing numbers and will be the antidote to offset the tendency to end defections while continuing to work on the formation of values. He said there have been 58 illegal dropouts in recent times, including 15 talented players of the National pre-selection, a fact that affects teams and strategies in the medium or long term.

"Thus, we have to seize the current moment of changes living in the Cuban sports and politics of openness with the United States and the world to open the door to hiring local figures," the official pointed out.

He also said that there is interest in signing Cuban players in Colombia, the Tomateros of Culiacan and Los Cañeros of Mochis, both of the Mexican league, as well as the Indians of Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela's Bravos de Margarita.

Finally, the Cuban executive said that on May 25th begins a concentration of Cuban pre-selection for the upcoming Pan-American Games and the national team will hold a cap of 7 games with a US college selection from July 1st-5th to finally face off the US baseball team to attend the Pan-American Games during July 6th and 7th.

Taekwondo

Today, on May 12th, the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships officially begin. On the first day of the Championships there will be preliminary contests in the women's -46 kg and men's -58 kg while a Grand Opening Ceremony will close the day.

The preliminary contests will open in the Russian history. During the morning program, Chelyabinsk Dojang will see -46kg women and -58kg men and the fights will be held from 9:00 am until 12:30 pm and from 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm.

The first set of medals will be contested tomorrow, on May 13th with 90 athletes to perform in the men's -58 kg weight category with the final matches in the men's -58kg and women’s -46 kg during the evening program.

Cuba will debut tomorrow with Yania Aguirre in 49 kilos and José Ángel Cobas in 74 kg., who will debut in a contest that closes on May 18th.

Football

The duel between the reigning national champion Camaguey and Villa Clara teams will be contested today in the court of the city of Minas, Camagüey province, fulfilling the highest expectations in the closing of the National Football Cup.

Archery

Juan Carlos Stevens, Hugo Franco and Adrián Puente are the 3 archers to represent Cuba at the Pan-American Games Toronto-2015, official sources confirmed today in Havana.

Most striking was the return of Adrián Puente, continental holder in Río de Janeiro-2007, after not attending any major events lately.