Chess

Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez (2768) exceeds for the first time in ELO, his similar Ukrainian counterpart Vassily Ivanchuk (2753), to attend the José Raúl Capabanca Chess Tournament, to be played at the Habana Riviera Hotel, in this capital, since May 7th.

The Ukrainian, who debuted at the Havana meeting in 2005, has participated in 6 times and always with the highest rated among all Elo participants.

However, for the 2014 edition, the European, who has won 6 crowns in these tournaments, is now surpassed by Leinier Dominguez, 10th place in world rankings.

Leinier and Ivanchuk have met 11 times at the Capablanca with a favorable rate of 3 wins and 8 draws balance for the visitor.

Basketball

The women's basketball team of China completed the sweep of Cuba in the series of 3 friendly games that ended in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

Contrary to the 2 previous challenges, this time the Asians won by a closed marker of 63-61, a clash where the Caribbeans only won the 1st half by 16-15 and the 1st set of 2nd half by 17-13; the previous 2 games were largely dominated by the Chinese (77-53) and (73-53), in that order.

At the World Championship, China will play in Group D with USA, Angola and Serbia, in the city of Istanbul, while Cuba will face Australia, Belarus, Korea, in Group C, also in Istanbul.

Brazil Supports Campaign Against Racism in FIFA World Cup

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, reiterated today that the FIFA World Cup to be held in June in her country will have the banner of struggle against all forms of racial discrimination.

“We lift the flag fight against racial discrimination in the World Cup,” Rousseff posted on Twitter, after supporting the attitude of the 30-year-old Brazilian international player Daniel Alves when a spectator threw him a banana as Barcelona team played against the Villareal on Sunday night.

Alves won praise for his reaction, picking up the banana to take a bite before getting on with the game and setting up a goal in Barcelona's dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 victory.

"The player Dani Alves gave a daring and strong response to racism in sports," Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff said in a series of Twitter messages. She also pledged to make the anti-racism message a theme of this year's World Cup.

Team-mates and fans lent public support, including compatriot and clubmate Neymar, who posted a photograph of himself on the Instagram social networking site showing him eating a banana and his two-year-old son hugging a cuddly banana toy.