Baseball
Ciego de Avila was ratified at the top of the 55th National Baseball Series with 17 wins and 5 losses, after beating Santiago de Cuba 3-1 on Sunday in a day marked by the suspension of 4 challenges.

The right-hander Vladimir García spread 7 hits and 1 clean, with 6 strikeouts in 7 innings to lead the victory of Ciego de Avila's Los Tigres, with offensive highlight for the shortstop Raul Gonzalez, author of 2 solo homers.

Meanwhile, Matanzas' squad broke its negative 5 consecutive chain of failures to overcome Sancti Spiritus 8-1, with a 16 artillery attack hits, including Anibal Medina's homer, while veteran Jonder Martínez filed his 4th hit of the Season.

When this Monday closes the 23rd week and all teams are crossed in the mid of the preliminary calendar of the current domestic classic, Matanzas' Los Cocodrilos play to .476 (10-11), their worst record over during the last 4 Seasons.

In the meantime, Las Tunas secured an important 6-3 win over Villa Clara to be consolidated in the so-called classification area with prominence role of its catcher Yosvany Alarcón, who hit 2 homers.

Finally, the starter José Ramón Rodríguez gave up only 4 hits and struck out 6 in 8 innings to guide Camaguey's 6-0 victory over Guantanamo, offensively supported by Ermindo Escobar 4-3, with 1 homer and 2 runs scored.

Industriales was winning Holguin 3-1 in the 3rd chapter when the match was sealed because of the rain while the clashes Pinar del Rio-Mayabeque, Artemisa-Cienfuegos, and Isla de la Juventud-Granma, always at home of the first ones, were also suspended for similar reasons.

After these results, behind Ciego de Avila (17-5) go Granma (15-5), Industriales (14-7), Pinar del Rio and Las Tunas (12-8), Sancti Spiritus (13-9) and Villa Clara (12-10).

At the bottom of the standings struggle Holguín, Isla de la Juventud, Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Guantanamo, all with 10-11 balance, plus Santiago de Cuba (9-13), Artemisa (6-15), Camagüey (5-17) and Mayabeque (4-17).

Volleyball

Canada began their Women’s NORCECA Championship campaign with victory over Cuba 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-12) at Bicentenary Auditorium of Morelia, Mexico. In a match with long rallies, the score was tied on several occasions, with points going back and forth. The first set was the slowest while it took time for both teams get into their own rhythm. Cuba powered up in the 2nd set while the 3rd set was once again close.

Canada found better opportunities in the fourth to extend to the tie-breaker; with several consecutive unforced errors by Cuba, Canada managed a 3 point lead and finished winning. Despites Cuba's lead in spikes (62-25), Canada prevailed scoring on 37 Cuban errors and advantage in blocking (19-14). In aces, Cuba had a one point advantage 5-4. Opposite Tabitha Love led Canada scorers with 21 points, on 14 kills, 6 blocks and 1 ace.

Terry Fox's Message Resonates in a Big Way With Cubans

Many Canadians have participated in Terry Fox runs last weekend, but beyond our borders, no country celebrates the legacy of Terry Fox with as much gusto as Cuba does.

Last year, the Terry Fox Foundation estimated that 2 million Cubans took part in Terry Fox runs across the island nation, which has a population of about 11 million people.

"You can ask pretty much anybody who Terry Fox is, and they'll be able to tell you that he is a hero who put cancer on the map," said Toronto social worker Paula Larrondo.

Mrs. Larrondo knows firsthand the adoration Cubans have for Terry Fox. She saw it as a volunteer who brought medical supplies to the country, and in 2010, she brought the Fox family to Cuba so they could see it for themselves.

What started as a small event with a few hundred people 17 years ago has grown to become a national phenomenon in Cuba.

Cuba's Terry Fox runs occur every March in over 5,000 cities and towns across the country, and begin with a 10 a.m. call to start from an official radio station.

Mrs. Larrondo says Cubans have taken to Terry Fox's story because they see a similarity between his story of struggle with their own, and because they treasure their health care system so dearly.

Then, Mrs. Larrondo began the work of bringing the Fox family to Cuba when she met with Cuban diplomats, who she said had long wished for a visit from the Fox family.

When the family came in 2010, she said they were recognized by almost everyone they met and were "completely overwhelmed" by the reception.

"It was a very emotional experience, I think particularly for Betty Fox. It was her last international trip before she passed herself," she said. "When their flight arrived in Havana, they stopped the international baseball game just to announce their arrival."

FIFA 2022 World Cup

FIFA says the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will start on Nov. 21st, kicking off a 28-day tournament that will finish on Dec. 18th.

FIFA's executive committee confirmed the 2022 dates on Friday, six months after picking the Sunday, Dec. 18th date --Qatar's national holiday-- for the final.

In March, FIFA finally decided to switch the 2022 tournament from June-July to avoid Qatar's summer heat.

A 28-day World Cup is 4 fewer than usual and is designed to cause less disruption to clubs and leagues which must shut down for several peak mid-season weeks.

FIFA had delayed choosing a kickoff date in Qatar while it held talks on the 2019-2024 schedule of national team fixtures.

The international calendar mandates when clubs must release players for national-team duty.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 today officially proposed the return of baseball to the summer events.

The possibility the International Olympic Committee (IOC) offers to the host country to propose new sports allowed to Tokyo-2020 suggest 5 disciplines, which complete karate, surfing, skateboarding and climbing.

The organizers made their selection from a list of 8 candidates which also included squash, bowling and wushu, but only a couple of new changes were expected.
As baseball/softball (counted as one from December 2012 to propose the first for men and the second for women) will be the first incursion of this sport, which was present before separately.

Baseball had its official debut in Barcelona-1992 and remained on the calendar until Beijing 2008, while softball began in Atlanta-1996, and was removed from the official list after the 2008 event.

According to the Japanese, the news would involve the participation of 474 athletes more, without affecting the established limit of 10,500 athletes, and in the case of baseball/softball, it would have only 6 teams per category.

These proposals must be ratified at the IOC General Assembly next year, when it meets days before the Games in Rio de Janeiro-2016.