Lima, August 1 (RHC) – This Wednesday, the Cuban athletes that are taking part in the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games in Peru, suffered more than they enjoyed, since losses haunted them in almost all disciplines. Nevertheless, good results were achieved in some of the events. Results that led to winning medals, and results that seem like medal-winning promises.
Apart from the two Bronze medals won by Gymnastics athletes Alejandro de la Cruz and Huber Godoy, who have achieved their best results so far in their careers, Sports Shooting brought Cuba good hopes, as both Jorge Felix Alvarez and Leurys Pupo andvanced to the sports Finals. Alvarez finished 1st, tied in points with American Keith Sanderson with 291, but with a 2-bullseye advantage over Sanderson. Pupo finished 3rd.
In Badminton, Osleni Guerrero lost to Canadian Brian Yang in three games in the Men´s Singles Quarter-Finals. In the Mixed Doubles Quarter-Finals, Guerrero and Taymara Oropesa could not advance, since they were defeated by Canadian duo Nyl Yakura and Kristen Tsai in two games. In the Women´s Singles Quarter Final, another Canadian, this time Rachel Honderich, defeated Oropesa to keep her from advancing any further in the competition. In the Women´s Doubles, also in Quarter-Finals, Taymara Oropesa and Yeily Ortiz were victims of Americans Jamie Hsu and Kuei Chen. Leodannis Martinez and Osleni Guerrero gave Cuba its only good result in Badminton by defeating Jamaican duo of Samuel Ricketts and Gareth Henry and they assured themselves a spot in the Men´s Doubles Semi-Finals.
Baseball finally gave the Cuban fans a win, against Argentina by score of 10-0, a win that brings no joy, since the team was eliminated from the tournament after loosing two games in a row, first to Colombia and later to Canada, the current champions
The Men´s Handball team´s debut in Lima was far from expectations, since Cuba lost to Chile in a match in which the Cubans did not have any chance to win, since they were dominated by the Chilean team in a match that finished 28-38.
Another debut for Cuba in the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games went wrong, this time in Women´s Field Hockey, as Cubans lost the opening match against Uruguay, a country with a big Field Hockey tradition. After this defeat, Cuba needs to win next match if they are hoping to continue in the competition.
The young Men´s Volleyball team brought by Cuba to Lima, suffered a loss in their debut against Argentina in three sets. But apart from what loosing in just three set normally means in Volleyball, the Cubans battled and offered a lot of resistance to the Argentinians, since the sets finished 26-28, 22-25 and 22-25.