Taekwondo

Six taekwondocas represent Cuba at the First Pan-American Taekwondo Olympic Festival, to be hosted by the city of Puebla, Mexico, from July 16th to August 3rd.

The team is led by the London 2012 Olympic bronze medal Rosbelis Despaigne in +80 kg, and the World Champion, Glenhis Hernández in +67, said Hector Morales, national methodologist of the discipline.

Rounding out the roster the world bronze Yamichel Núñez (57), the world youth runner-up José Ángel Cobas (74) and the internationals Osvaldo Llorens (58) and Yosvel Pérez (68).

The men's squad will be led by coach Roberto Cárdenas, while the ladies will be under the command of Arlén González, all led by Carlos Banascos, national commissioner and head of the delegation.

The event will host 5000 athletes and officials in 23 disciplines, 12 of which will be qualifying for the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto, reviewed the www.mastaekwondo.com specialized website.

Like Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and the hosts, who are ready to face 2014 Veracruz, will be also present.

Cuba will take part at the Costa Rica Open, category G1, in August, an event in which the winners get 10 points plus for the ranking, a prior training to Veracruz 2014, which will attend with Despaigne in +87 kg, Hernández (73) Rafael Alba (87), Núñez (53) and Yania Aguirre (49), all world medalists in Puebla 2013.

Football

The U-20 Cuban national team, triumphed in the dispute in Group 1 at the start of the playoffs of the Caribbean qualifying, ahead of the World Cup of that category to be held next year.

This first step was successfully obtained by Cuba as host team at the capital's Pedro Marrero Stadium, after 2 draws and 1 win, where Cienfuegos' athlete Frank Manuel López, author of 5 of the 6 goals in 3 games, was the best of the students of technical coach William Bennet.

Baseball

After several weeks of his inclusion in the Japanese Major Leagues, Cuban star Yuliesky Gourriel exhibits better numbers than his compatriot Frederich Cepeda.

In 15 challenges with the Yokohama Dena Baystars, Gourriel averages 327 in batting, a very prominent figure considering his brief presence and period of adjustment to the new competitive scenario and the high quality of Japanese pitchers.

Meanwhile, Cepeda shows a slight increase in his offensive indicators, a modest average of 194, with 5 homers and 15 RBIs in 29 games with the Yomiuri Giants, leader of the local teams with 40-28.

Chess

The woman chess player, GM Yuniesky Quesada, celebrates a new high Elo 2655 record, according to the latest update of the world rankings, where the also Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez was confirmed in 11th place.

By country, Cuba appeared again at step 19th with the improvement of GM Lázaro Bruzón to 2696 units that allowed him to climb to the 52nd step in the world list.

Triathlon
The Granma athlete, Ana Arias Leydis, won the 9th and final stage of the Cuba's Triathlon Cup, held in the capital's beach of Santa María del Mar, to the surprise of the favorite, Camagüey's representative, Lisandra Hernández.

Arias completed the swimming distances (750 meters), cycling (20 km) and running race (5 km) in 1:03.26 hours, while Hernández recorded 1:04.09, followed by the capital's figure Leslie Amat (1:04.35), reflected the Jit digital sports publication.

Meanwhile, local Michel González was smoothly crowned among men, principal figure of the Cuban team and U23 Pan-American monarch in Rio de Janeiro 2006 and Caribbean Cup in Santo Domingo 2007, who recorded 55.51 minutes.

Cuba will go to Veracruz 2014 in November with the already classified of Michel González and Lisandra Hernández, and with Dioséles Fernandez as coach.

World Cup Soccer: Penalties, Doubts, Injustice

Within a few hours, additional anecdotes may surface, one would hope, all in the best sense of fair play, and for the good of a World Cup exultant with great goals and emotions.

Because apart from the moments of excellence left behind daily by Brazil 2014, the negative moments are mounting, while FIFA's barons turn a deaf ear.
Diego Armando Maradona, the Golden Boy, Argentina's classic soccer star, says that FIFA lives with its back to reality. I don't know if I'd go that far, but certainly its PR team could be paying a bit more attention to the short circuits.

Otherwise it is hard to explain the intolerance and indolence of officials of the oh, so powerful FIFA, who refused to allow Farid Mondragon to bring his children to the field.

The Colombia-Japan match had ended, and the goalkeeper, 43, fulfilled the dream of inscribing his name on the list as the oldest player to ever participate in a FIFA World Cup.

However, his pleasure was cut short. All he wanted was to take a picture with his team and his children.

Meanwhile, the disproportionate penalty against Uruguay striker Luis Suarez for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini had a seriously negative impact, directly affecting Uruguay's team in the competition.

Yet there was absolutely no attempt made to ease tensions, much less do what is said of the wise: rectify. Unmoved, FIFA stuck to its position, banning Suarez from the field for nine games and four months.

For its part, Mexico left Brazil with a very bad taste in its mouth. After all, a bit petty since it had Holland asphyxiated with an excellent 1-0 by Gio Dos Santos. Excessive conservatism cost it the goal by the reappeared Schneijder.

But a penalty?? That a referee should decide the fate of one team or another with a penalty in injury time seems a bit much. The Portuguese ref, Pedro Proenca really went too far.

Perhaps, perhaps not. Because if Arjen Robben exaggerated his 'swan dive', it was typical of the speedy Dutch attacker. But such a decision, the key role of an umpire on a questionable move, hurts soccer.