Pinar del Rio Slides Leader Matanzas in Cuban Baseball Series

A few days to represent Cuba in the Caribbean Baseball Series, current Cuban national champion Pinar del Río gave a blow of authority in the Cuban baseball series to complete a slide over leader Matanzas with a 7-3 win on Thursday.

William Saavedra and Olber Peña led Pinar del Rio's offensive with a homer and two RBIs each, as reliever Isbel Hernández was the winner and Vladimir Gutierrez earned his 13th save of the season.

It was the first slide suffered by the Matanzas' 'Cocodrilos', which despite this unexpected defeat, remains on top of the standings with 39 wins and 21 losses, with just one game ahead of Granma (38-22), which was beaten by a score of 5-4 by Isla de la Juventud 'Los Piratas' late Thursday.

The rookie Yunieski Diaz took the win by allowing only one hit in three innings of pitching while first baseman Luis Felipe Rivera and outfielder Yusniel Ibáñez led the offensive, driving in the decisive runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for the 'Los Piratas'.

Industriales managed to score all their runs in the ninth inning to walk off Holguin by a score of 4-3. The decisive RBIs went to the record of Yunieski Gourriel, Wilfredo Aroche and pinch hitters Felix Carbonell and Yulieski Gourriel to complete the other slide of the day.

Ciego de Avila defeated Artemisa 14-4 with a solid offensive of 14 hits, including homers by José A. García, Humberto Morales, Yoelvis Fiss and Yeniet Pérez.

Cuba Loses to El Salvador 0-2, No U-20 World Cup Berth

The Cuban U-20 soccer team was beaten by El Salvador 0-2, and now has no chance to qualify for the U-20 World Soccer Championship to be held in New Zealand 2015.

The main man in the Salvadoran forward attack was midfield player Juan Barahona, scorer of both goals at the 57´ and 87´ minutes.

The Cuban team had also clear chances in this game, but forwards Eddy Luis Sanamé and Frank Manuel López failed to score.

This is the third time El Salvador defeats a Cuban team in this category. The first was in 1985 and the second, in 2013.

Russia to Appoint Deputy Minister to Fight Doping

The Ministry of Sports of Russia will soon have a deputy minister in charge of doping issues.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko explained the future deputy minister will be responsible for the independence of the system at the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada).

The president of the Russian Athletics Federation, Valentin Balájnichev, said he is willing to resign, but only after scandals with Russian athletes are resolved.

News reports two days ago said Olympic walk champions Valeri Borchin Sergei Kirdiapkin and Olga Kaniskina and world medalists Sergey Bakulin and Vladimir Kanaikin were disqualified for violating anti-doping rules.

The punishment of the athletes was motivated by abnormal deviations of blood rates in their biological passports.

Meanwhile, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced that it will redistribute the titles won by Russian marchers when it finishes analyzing all the documentation.

The number of doping cases in the Russian athletics in general and especially in the marching event, is a concern for the IAAF, and the federation is said to be investigating all these situations.

Birmingham, Alabama, to Host the World Games 2021

World Games 2021 will take place in Birmingham, in the U.S. state of Alabama. This decision was announced by José Perurena, President of the International World Games Association, at noon on Thursday, 22 January 2015, at a press conference in the Mövenpick Hotel in Lausanne.

During meetings this week, the IWGA Executive Committee had made a final assessment of the Bids from Birmingham (USA), Lima (Peru) and Ufa (Russia), and evaluated the delegations’ final presentations. The IWGA Executive Board took the final decision on the host city for the 11th edition of this multi-sports event at its meeting on Thursday morning.

This announcement is subject to successful negotiation of contractual conditions, and subsequent confirmation by the IWGA‘s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in April 2015. The agreement with the next host city will be signed right after the AGM. The 10th edition of The World Games will be staged in 2017 in Wroclaw Poland. The IWGA flag will be handed over to the representatives of Birmingham during the closing ceremony in Wroclaw on 30 July 2017.

Giving reasons for the decision in favour of Birmingham/Alabama, President José Perurena mentioned the excellent bid presented by the host city. "We are happy to showcase our sports in Birmingham in July 2021, and we are sure that we will be offered optimal conditions for our sportsmen and women there. All the bids we received were of very high quality, and it was not easy for us to reach a decision. We have to deliver nothing less than outstanding World Games. We are convinced that Birmingham will exceed these expectations.” José Perurena stated.

Birmingham offers all prerequisites to stage an event like The World Games. The IWGA President added. This refers not only to the required sporting venues and infrastructure. The city also meets expectations in terms of organizing skills and the support of the city administration and the National Olympic Committee.

So, after Santa Clara 1981, the inaugural edition, The World Games will return to the USA. Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama, with more than 210,000 residents. It will be the first time that the city hosts an international multi-sport event.

The bidding process had been started by the IWGA in early 2014. Birmingham (USA), Lima (Peru) and Ufa (Russia) applied to host the 11th edition of The World Games.

The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events within a sport, that are not contested in the Olympic Games.