Chess

Cuban Leinier Dominguez defeated Russian Dmitry Jakovenko on Friday in the second round of the Chess Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Dominguez won in 36 moves with a semi-Slavic defense and earned 1,5 points and comes first after two matches.

Leinier Dominguez had draw in his first match against Italian Fabiano Caruana in the beginning of the Chess tournament with the participation of 12 elite Grand Masters from around the world.

Previously Leinier (2 734 Elo points) and Caruana (2803) have achieved two wins each and five draws.

Russian Sergey Karjakin (2753), American Hikaru Nakamura (2799) and Dutch Anish Giri (2676) will be the next opponents of the leader of the Latin American ranking.

Then he will face Israeli Boris Gelfand (2744), Russians Peter Svidler (2734) and Evgeny Tomashevsky (2749), Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2754), Georgian Baduur Jobava (2699) and Russian Alexander Grischuk (2780).

This will be the fourth phase of a circuit released last year in Baku, where Caruana and Gelfand shared the top and Leinier finished last among 12 contestants.

In Tashkent the monarch was Russian Dmitry Andreikin, and Tomashevsky reigned in Tbilisi, a key performance to gain 252 units with which he tops the standings where Leinier appears last.

Nakamura and Caruana show 230 and 207 points, in that order, and are the other strong candidates for the two tickets to the challengers' match, special attraction of an event that requires three appearances per player.

Volleyball

The eight countries which lined up at the opening of the FIVB Volleyball World League in 1990 are joined by 24 of the best teams from around the world for the 26th edition of the premier annual competition for men's national teams, which will feature 32 teams for the first time in its history from May 16th until July 19th.

The competition has also got longer, running to ten weeks of mouth-watering volleyball, treating fans to a show which begins with the Intercontinental round on May 16 and ends with the grand finale at the Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 19th.

 

In Euro League winners Montenegro and Kazakhstan, who finished third in the AVC Cup, another two strong nations make their debut in the FIVB World League this year. They bring the total number of countries to have played in the World League to 33.

Euro League runners-up Greece are back after a long break (their last appearance was in 2005). They are joined by African Nations champions Egypt (2010) and Venezuela (2009). Only Brazil and Italy have played in all 25 editions of the World League.

The two major volleyball nations top the list of World League winners. Brazil have nine titles to their name, followed by Italy with eight.

The USA is the third country in the last four years to win the World League, following Russia (2011, 2013) and Poland (2012), which goes to show just how exciting the competition has become. In the first 20 years - from 1990 to 2010 - Brazil and Italy scooped a total 17 titles between them.

The seven former winners are again in action this year: Brazil (nine titles), Italy (eight), Russia (three), defending champions USA (two), world champions Poland, Cuba and the Netherlands (one win each).

Rio de Janeiro will host the Group 1 Finals, one year ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

The Cuban Volleyball team aims to reach finals of the 2015 FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) Volleyball World League's Final Round.

"We have clear ambitions: to qualify for the finals of World League's second level and for the World Cup," Rodolfo Sanchez, coach of Cuba's men team said in April.

The Stampede Corral in Calgary, Canada, will host the match between Canada and Cuba in Group C on Saturday and Sunday.

Judo

Cuban judo star Idalis Ortiz (+78 kgs) leads the Cuban women's judo team to compete in the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, from July 10 to 26.

Along with Ortiz, London 2012 Olympic champion and double world champion in Rio de Janeiro 2013 and Chelyabinsk 2014, the squad also includes Onix Cortés (70 kilos), world bronze medalist in the Russian city, according to Ronaldo Veitia, head coach of the national team.

Yalennis Castillo (78), Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and third seat in the Grand Prix of Havana 2014, also stands out on the side.

The list of those chosen for Toronto is completed by Dayaris Mestre (48) and Aliuska Ojeda (57), silver and bronze medalists in Havana, in that order, Gretel Romero (52) and Maylin del Toro (63).

While expressing confidence in a good performance in the Canadian city, Veitia lamented the absence of two other great athletes, Olympic and world medalist Yanet Bermoy (52), and Maricet Espinosa (63), who finished third in the Havana Grand Prix, in both cases by injury.

About the preparation prior to the multi sport event, the prominent trainer said on May 19 he will travel along with Ortiz and Mestre to the Masters Championship in Morocco – from May 23 and 24-, which includes the 15 best athletes of each division in the world ranking.

In this regard he noted that after that the entire team will undergo a training base in France before going to Hungary, venue on June 13 and 14 of the Grand Prix.

Back in Havana, they will have a training camp in the eastern province of Holguin until July 2nd, last phase of the preparation for Toronto, he said.

Another important commitment this year is the world championship in September, in Astana, Kazakhstan, where he hopes to attend with a strong team.