Hilda Elisa Ramos and her students Silinda Morales and Mario Díaz

Havana, May 9 (RHC) - Six Cuban athletics figures will participate this weekend in the Ibero-American Championships in Cuiabá, Brazil, which marks a considerable reduction with respect to the selection initially announced.

The group, which travels to the headquarters this Wednesday, includes the under-18 world and Pan American discus champion Silinda Morales and the under-20 world and Pan American runner-up, Alejandro Parada (long jump).

The group is completed by discus thrower Mario Díaz, hammer thrower Ronald Mencía, long jumper Maikel Vidal and triple jumper Andy Hechavarría.

A delegation of 17 exponents of Cuban athletics was initially planned, but in the end it was not possible due to visa procedures, according to sports authorities.

“We were limited by the impossibility of completing the visa process for those who were recently participating in the world relay, so we had to adjust the registration. We prefer to prioritize those with the greatest possibilities of achieving Olympic qualification marks,” national commissioner Rolando Charroo told JIT.

Two years ago, in the edition in Alicante, Spain, the Cubans won five gold medals, three silver and two bronze.

The nearby Brazilian event will be an excellent opportunity to reach the marks required by World Athletics to attend Paris-2024, or add points in the ranking that will define the last tickets.

Cuba so far has six figures classified in the athletics of the Paris event: the triple jumpers Leyanis Pérez, Liadagmis Povea, Lázaro Martínez and Cristian Nápoles, the high jumper Luis Zayas and Roxana Gómez (400m).