The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic champion in 87 kg, Rafael Alba, leads the group of eight Cuban athletes, four in each sex, who will compete for Cuba at the XXIII World Taekwondo Championship, from June 24 to 30 in the Korean city of Muju.

The men's team, which will be under the supervision of Pedro Simon, is completed by London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Robelis Despaigne in over 87 kg, Toronto Pan American Games title holder José Ángel Cobas and Fermín Quesada In the category of 63 kg.

The women's squad, led by Amaranto Delisle, is headed by 2013 world champion Glenys Hernandez in the 73 kg category and will also have the bronz medalists of that event, Yania Aguirre, in 49, And Yamicel Núñez, in the 53, and the debutante in quotes of the world, Yislena Vargas, in the 62 kg.

The eight athletes, along with their coaches, the president of the Cuban federation, Ivan Fernandez, and the doctor Eduardo Negrete, will leave next Sunday to the venue of the event.

According to the competition program, the first to fight for Cuba will be Yania Aguirre, on Sunday, June 25 in the 49 kg eliminatory, one day later will be the semifinals and finals in that category.

In the history of world taekwondo championships, Cuba holds fourteen medals, three gold, equal amount of silver and eight bronze, which ranked 14th among nations that have reached the awards podium.

The Muju World Championship awards the gold medalist of each category with 120 points for the world ranking, silver 72 and bronze 43 is the second event that gives more points to the ranking, only surpassed by the Olympic Games

Cuba will compete with five freestyle wrestlers in the Canada Cup, to be held on July 8 at the Mitchell University Athletic Center in Ontario.

Julio Mendieta, coach of the national team, said that among the chosen wrestlers are the bronze medalist of the world Yowlys Bonne (61 kg) and the best representative of the island in the German League, Alejandro Valdés (65 kg) .

Completing the list we have the world medalist Reineris Salas (97 kg), Franklyn Marén (65 kg) and Yuniesky Torreblanca (86 kg), in conjunction with coach Jesús Rodríguez.

The competition should bring together more than 120 athletes from six nations, And in the previous edition of the contest the Cubans triumphed by groups with four gold medals and one silver.

Bonne, Valdés, Salas and Liván López (74 kg) were crowned on that occasion.

Cuban world champion pole vault Yarisley Silva won the gold medal in the fifth stop of the Diamond League in Oslo, after jumping 4.81 meters accomplishing her best mark of the year.

Silva, also Olympic runner-up in London 2012, won her third prize in this event, after rising bronze (4.65) in Doha, last May; And silver (4.75) in Rome.

The silver medal went to the hands of Russian Anzhelika Sidorova (4.75), while the German Lisa Ryzih (4.65) was the bronze winner.

Yarisley Silva now commands the general classification of its discipline with 21 points, followed by the Greek Katerina Stefanidi and the German Lisa Ryzih.