Havana, November 23 (ACN) -- The Cuban delegation will try to reach 10 or more titles today in the VII Parapan American Games Santiago de Chile 2023, where it occupies the seventh position in the medal standings with eight gold, five silver and seven bronze medals, for a total of twenty awards.
For Cuba, one of the great possibilities for gold will be in parathletics, through the stellar sprinter Omara Durand, who will compete in the 100 meters (m), category T12 (profound visual impairment).
Durand, world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 m, and winner of eight Paralympic Games crowns, together with her guide Yuniol Kindelán, will be looking for a place in the final of the hectometer in heat 1 of the semifinals.
On Tuesday, the Santiago native dominated the 200 m with a time of 23.63 seconds (s), to achieve her first gold medal in the Chilean capital.
Hours before, she had set a continental record with her victory in heat 1 with a time of 23.59 seconds, improving the 23.67 seconds achieved in Lima 2019.
Another athlete with great options to climb to the top of the awards podium will be long jumper Robiel Yanquiel Sol Cervantes, world and Paralympic champion in the T47 category.
Sol Cervantes, the Caribbean nation's flag bearer in this multisport competition, will be competing with a record of 7.71 m, which is the world record in this specialty.
Likewise, the experienced Leonardo Díaz, in the discus throw F56, will try to be among the medalists, in an event in which he appears in the registration list with the second best result, 39.72 m, only surpassed by the Brazilian Claudiney Batista (47.37 m), according to the official site of the competition.
Also for the largest of the Antilles there will be activity of the paratriathletes in badminton, taekwondo and swimming.
Parataekwondo will make its debut with two of its exponents, Manuel Benítez, in the 58 kilograms (kg), and Lilisbet Rodríguez (57 kg).
Brazil (93-55-54) dominates the medal tally by countries, far behind the United States (29-30-29) and Colombia (26-38-28), which complete the leading trio.
Mexico (18-22-35), Argentina (13-19-36) and Chile (12-15-9) occupy places four, five and six, in that order, while Ecuador (5-6-4) is eighth behind the Cuban delegation.
