Baseball

Cuba won the traditional World Port Baseball Tournament held in Rotterdam, Holland, as the local players failed to win the final clash.

In Rotterdam, the Cubans ended the unbeaten status of the Netherlands. Cuba recorded a 3-5 victory. This was the 6th time they won the WPT title. For the 4th time during this Tournament all tickets were sold out in the Family stadium and it was for the 9th time the Netherlands played the final of the World Port Baseball Tournament. The final battle was a repeat of the previous WPT edition in 2013, when Cuba won with 4-0 over the Orange team. If you want to know more details, visit www.worldporttournament.nl

And another good news regarding the passion of the Cubans says that after a poor performance with the Cuban national Team at the Pan-American Games Toronto 2015, Cuban baseball player Alfredo Despaigne is back in the regular line-up for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Nippon Professional League.

Despaigne only averaged .177 (6-34) in Toronto. He was 1-5 with an RBI in his team’s win 7x4 over the Rakuten.

Last Sunday, the strong outfielder hit 2-4 with a run scored, and a strikeout. After these 2 performances, Despaigne is hitting .267 (43-161) with 11 doubles, 9 homers, and 32 RBIs.

Platini Presents Candidacy for FIFA Presidency

The French Michel Platini, president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has officially announced his candidacy for the presidential elections of the International Football Federation (FIFA), mired in a corruption scandal.

Platini, president of the governing body of the European football since 2007, will aspire to succeed Joseph Blatter, who decided to announce his resignation after corruption scandals within FIFA, which marked the most recent congress in Zurich.

The former football player added that "there are defining moments in your life you need to take destiny in your hands. I'm in one of those moments. "The election will take place at the extraordinary congress scheduled for February 26, 2016.
Platini's announcement came after receiving the support of his candidacy from at least 4 of the 6 confederations, including the powerful Asian Football Confederation.
Some praise his management in the UEFA for its campaign against racism, democratization of Euro (in 2020 will be played in 13 countries on the continent) and the extension of the quotas for the Champions League but he has also been strongly criticized by the vote for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, which has been questioned under corruption accusations.

As potential rivals, the candidate who worries Platini the most is the Korean Chung Mong Joon, FIFA vice-president and one of the heirs of the Hyundai Automotive Group.

In addition, other former players like Argentine Diego Armando Maradona, Zico, the Portuguese Luis Figo or French David Gionla, and the chairman of the Dutch Federation, Michael Van Praag have raised the possibility of launching into the race for control of FIFA.

Nominations of candidates for the FIFA presidency will be open until October 26th.