Soccer

The Cuban U-17 soccer team won another point in a 1-1 draw playing Jamaica on Thursday in the third round of Group A of the CONCACAF qualifying for the world cup, taking place at Francisco Morazán Stadium in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Cuba scored first at minute 47 by Eduardo Puga but six minutes later, Jamaica responded with a goal by Nathaniel Odamolekon.

With this draw, the Cuban team has two points after two draws and a defeat as Jamaica earned four points.

Cuba will play Guatemala in the fourth round on Sunday. The event will end on March 15th but 12 teams are still competing for four places for the World Cup in November in Chile.

Terry Fox Marathon in Cuba on March 14th

In a new opportunity to keep alive the legacy of Terry Fox, the 17th edition of the Marathon of Hope in honor of the young Canadian cancer victim will be held on March 14th throughout Cuba.

Yves Gagnon, Canadian Ambassador to Cuba, expressed in the International Press Center in Havana he was proud to share with Cubans -for a second time-, the experience of an event full of love and solidarity.

Thanks to the cooperation of government authorities and the people, he said, this race is the largest of its kind outside of Canada, demonstrating that Terry's sacrifice was not in vain.

A victim of cancer, Fox suffered the amputation of his right leg six inches above the knee at the age of 18, and with prosthesis he ran 26 miles daily for 143 consecutive days.

His spirit of never giving up in the battle against this deadly disease encourages Cubans each year to take the streets, either to run or walk, thus showing that we can fight cancer through exercise.

Carlos Gattorno, director of Marabana / Maracuba project, said that this event is a celebration of life, to share with family and friends, children, youth, adults, elderly or disabled.

The Marathon of Hope will be participatory and will take place in all municipalities, rural and mountainous areas of the country, and will begin simultaneously at 10:00 am.

In Havana, the start and finish will be at Kid Chocolate multipurpose room, occasion when once again it will be paid tribute to the memory of Terry Fox, who made a great sacrifice to raise money in the fight against cancer, ailment that caused his death just at the age of 22.

Boxing

The second phase of the Regular Season in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) begins as Morocco Atlas Lions host Cuba Domadores.

Morocco lost 5-0 away in Cuba in the opening round of fixtures, but have won their two home matches this season, and will hope to perform well again in front of their home fans.

Cuba Domadores have won all seven of their WSB matches in Season V, but looked vulnerable during their last fixture away in Ukraine as they dropped two legs in Kiev.

Hyatt Regency, Casablanca is the venue for this Group A clash, where on Friday 6th March fans across the world can watch the action free, live and on demand from 22:00 at AIBABoxingTV.com.

Morocco Atlas Lions changed the order of fights to face the Cuban team. A report says the first fight with begin with the heavy weight division over 91kg followed by 60, 81,69 y 52.

Moroccan Flyweight (52 kg) Achraf Kharroubi is riding a two fight win streak in WSB, but faces a tough task to keep the run going as he faces WSB Boxer of the Week and Cuba’s 3-0 top ranked Yosbany Veitia, who is seeking his 12th straight win in the competition.

1-1 Lightweight (60 kg) Abdellah Boudrar was successful in his last appearance for the Atlas Lions away in Ukraine, and enjoys home advantage this week against 3-0 Cuban Lazaro Alvarez.

A much anticipated clash follows at Welterweight (69 kg) between Morocco’s unbeaten 3-0 number two ranked Mohammed Rabii and Cuba’s fourth ranked 2-0 Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo.

Light heavyweight (81 kg) Peter Mullenberg lost his opening match for Morocco earlier in the season, and faces ominous opposition in Casablanca when number one ranked Julio Cesar De La Cruz takes to the ring.

The evening finishes at Super heavyweight (91+ kg) where home star Thierry Adolphe Ngueharoum fights 2-1 Cuban Lenier Eunice Pero who lost to Britain’s Joseph Joyce last time out.

Volleyball

The volleyball leagues of Russia and Japan have expressed interest in signing contracts with Cuban athletes, which could increase considerably the figure of Cuban volleyball athletes playing in foreign clubs in 2016.

In statements to the press, Ariel Saínz, President of the Cuban Volleyball Federation, announced the visit here of an official with the Japanese Volleyball Federation. He said, the visit of the Japanese sports official, which began Friday and runs through next Wednesday, March 11th, is aimed at exploring possibilities for signing contracts with Cuban athletes.

The Cuban volleyball official further informed that famed Russian coach Nikolai Karpol", visited the island in February with similar intentions.

The president of the Cuban volleyball federation explained that thus far only one Cuban volleyball athlete Javier Jiménez, has signed contract with the a foreign club --Paok of Greece.

“Our goal, he said, is to increase the number of Cuban athletes playing with foreign sports league, with which they would improve their performance considerably.” He added that several other foreign leagues have also expressed their interest in Cuban volleyball players.

The Cuban sports official described as 'very favorable' talks held with Russian coach Karpol, former head coach of the Russian Olympic Women's Volleyball Team and current head coach of the famed Uralochka Club.

Sainz added: “Karpol is interest in both, signing contracts with some Cuban female volleyball athletes, and organizing friendly matches with our national team. We are seriously thinking about this possibility, which if materialized would be very good in terms of our athlete's training for other important international events."