Cuba's Performance in the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games Veracruz 2014

After an expected rally to overcome Mexico on the medal standings on Friday, Cuba took the lead and is now at the top of the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz 2014.

Cuba is first with 108 gold, 62 silver and 61 bronze medals. Mexico is the one now on the chase after Cuba with 103 gold, 93 silver, 103 bronze, followed by Colombia in third place with 65 gold, 68 silver, 71 bronze.

Boxing

Cuban boxers are pleased to have raised the Cuban delegation to the top of the medal standing of the games to 108 gold medals after winning 4 fights in the boxing first night finals.

A cheerful night was completed after 91kg Erislandy Savón beat without doubt Venezuelan Alfonso Flores 3-0. It was also a happy night for 56kg Robeisy Ramírez, who defeated Dominican Héctor García by points in a divided voting 2-1. Welter weight (64kg) Yasnier Toledo won against Puerto Rican Danielito Zorrilla by points. After seeing these two Cuba's wins by divided voting 2-1, people began to wonder what was going on with the judging. Cuba's opponents did not match the amount of punches the Cuban boxers were hitting at them.

But then middle weight 75kg Arlen López left not doubt in win over the Mexican Misael Rodríguez by an unanimous decision of 3-0. López's moves on the ring left his opponent disoriented. He didn't allow his Mexican opponent to figure out his fighting style, changing stances to the left and to the right and punching unexpectedly.

“When you work hard the result is good and that's what happened. Because I train well and all sacrifices have their rewards,” stated Savón after winning his fight by an unanimous decision as a proof of his clear domain over the ring when his opponent spent most of the time on the defence. “We know everybody in Cuba is following this event and we dedicate the medal to all of them,” said Savón.

Wrestling

Wrestler Lisseth Hechavarría (75 kg) won the sixth gold medal on Friday for the Cuban delegation on the wrestling tournament of the games. The Cuban wrestler beat her three opponents by technical superiority over Venezuelan Jaramit Weffer (7-1), Colombian Andrea Olaya (7-0) and Puerto Rican Lizabeth Rodríguez (8-0).

Badminton

A pleasant surprise and out of all prediction resulted the win on Friday of the Cuban badminton mixed double by Osleni Guerrero and Tahimara Oropesa over Mexicans Job Castillo and Sabrina Solís 2-1.

Athletics

Triple jumper Ernesto Revé said Friday “I would like to have passed the 17 meters”. He was analyzing his performance when he won the triple jump gold medal of the games in Veracruz. The world medalist reiterated his desire to overcome the 17 meter mark but recognized that this is not the best time of the year to achieve the best results in this sport. “We were not in a our best physical shape and we had to perform at out best to win these medals,” Revé pointed out referring also to young jumper Lázaro Martínez, who won silver.

Pole-vaulter Lázaro Borges won gold on Friday when he cleared the bar at 5,30 meters. Borges said his teammate Yarisley Silva's performance a few days before was the source of his inspiration.

Soccer

The Cuban soccer team won an outstanding bronze medal on Friday beating Honduras 3 to 1. After a dearth of medals in 21 years in this type of games when Cuba also won bronze in Ponce, Puerto Rico 1993, Cuban young players will return home with the pride to have participated in a historical performance.