Baseball

Supported by 2 homers of Yadiel Hernandez and other by Eriel Sanchez, Matanzas won 5-2 to Villa Clara on Thursday in their 1st semifinal game playoffs of the 53rd Cuban Baseball Championship in a packed Victoria de Girón stadium.

Thus, Matanzas' Los Cocodrilos took a 1-0 lead in the bilateral series agreed to 7 games to win 3, and ratified its leadership step by archiving 8th wins in 10 games, an impressive record.

The winning drive was directed by Yadiel Hernandez, who besides finishing tied in RBIs, 69, with the Industriales' Yulieski Gourriel, gave 2 homers.

Finally, Blanco won his 10th game of the Season, while Fuentes scored his 14th save and Felix Fuentes closed the last inning. These teams will bump into each other again today Friday at 7:15 pm. local time, on the same stage, with an alleged duel between right-handed pitcher Yoelkis Cruz, by the hosts, and lefty Yasmani Hernandez, for the visitors.

The other semifinal that begins this Friday at 3:15 pm. local time covers Industriales vs. Pinar del Rio, at the home of the latter, the Captain San Luis Stadium, and will presumably use the right-handed openers Yosvani Torres, by Pinar, and Frank Monthiet, by Industriales.

Badminton

The stars Osleni Guerrero, Cuba, and Kevin Cordon, of Guatemala, were victorious in their first performances at the 15th Giraldilla Badminton Tournament, underway in Havana among players from 13 countries.

In the individual event for men, Guerrero defeated the Guatemalan Humblers Heymard by 21-18 and 21-11 and guaranteed his ticket to the knockout finals.

Guerrero, Americas' main racket and 54th in the world ranking, faces the Dominican Alberto Raposo today Friday.

The other victors of the day were Guatemalan Kevin Cordon, monarch of Guadalajara 2011, and American Bjorn Seguin, 93rd in the world list.

The event, which celebrates its 15 years, awards 2,500 points to the winners of each category.

Archery

Cuban Laritza Pagán is the proud winner of 2 gold medals at the XVI Mella Archery Cup, held in the northwestern Dominican city of Santiago de los Caballeros.

At that competition, the Cuban archer was a guest along with her compatriot Maydenia Sarduy, who were followed by the hosts Rosairys Guzman and Lya Solano placed 3rd.

In the men's category, the Dominican Andrés Alfonseca won the gold metal in both modes mentioned, with the silver and bronze for locals Alvaro Acevedo and Daniel Martinez.

FIFA Soccer World Cup

Joseph Blatter, president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), said that the stadium meant to host the opening of the World Cup in Brazil will be ready by June 12th.

"The problem of the Sao Paulo's Stadium has been fixed and the opening game of the World between Brazil and Croatia will happen there", Blatter said during the congress of the Union of European Football Association being held in Astana.

Doubts about the stadium arose last November when a crane caused the collapse of part of the roof, killing 2 workers.

As a result, work on the project was set back and a loan of EUR 80.8 million from the National Development Bank was necessary to complete the restoration. According to Blatter, the stadium will be fully completed by April 15th.

The Corinthians Arena will host 6 matches of the World Cup, including a semi-final that will surely mark the height of the stadium's capacity, seating 68,000 fans.