IPC World Championships in Qatar
Cuba’s Omara Durand smashed her own 100m T12 world record in style as she was one of three athletes on Wednesday to seal a hat-trick of titles at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
The Cuban sprinter was joined by China’s Cuiqing Liu and Tunisia’s Walid Ktila in winning their third gold medals.
The 23-year-old Cuban, who broke the 200m and 400m world records earlier in the week to land gold, cruised to the win over the shorter sprint in 11.48 seconds, 0.17 faster than her previous best set at August’s Parapan American Games.
“I have won three gold medals, I am the happiest in the world, three is the magic number!” said Durand who finished well ahead of Azerbaijan’s Elena Chebanu (11.94) in silver and Ukraine’s Oxana Boturchuk (11.96) in bronze.
Cuba’s Leinier Savon Pineda has been in terrific form in Doha. It was double gold for the Cuban athlete who added the 200m T12 title to his 100m win on Friday. The 26-year-old made light of a stellar field as he stormed home to take gold with a new Americas record (22.14). South African Jonathan Ntutu and Russian Fedor Trikolich took silver and bronze respectively.
Here is what Leinier Savon Pineda had to say at the end of his event on Thursday.
“I am so very happy with the result. I thought the race was supposed to be tomorrow and not today so it was a bit of a shock, but I was ready. I have qualified for Rio and I just can’t wait to get back out there and compete again.”
Yunidis Castillo qualified for the women’s 100-meter T47 finals taking place on Friday. So far Cuba comes ninth with seven gold medals and two silvers.
International Convention against Doping in Sport
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is hosting the fifth session of the International Convention against Doping in Sport at its headquarters in Paris, with the theme of educating young athletes about the danger of using prohibited substances.
“Prevention is better than cure,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, stressing that while a great deal had been achieved in the last decade, advocacy work must continue to educate and enforce towards fulfilling the shared ambition of eradicating doping from sport worldwide.
“The only possible way to fight doping effectively is through education,” she said in a statement at the two-day event on October 29 - 30.
More than 250 representatives of governments and the sporting industry discuss anti-doping challenges over the two day conference, in line with the International Convention against Doping in Sport at a time of increasing concern about the use of performance enhancing drugs.
The Convention, which was adopted in 2005, is based on the World Anti-Doping Code, where States commit to restrict trafficking in doping substances; apply common practices to control its use by athletes in competitions; improve detection techniques; and support education.
UNESCO, which also administers a $1.8 million Fund for the elimination of doping in sport, said in a press release that the use of performance enhancing substances not only caused serious health problems but also undermined fairness and ethics in sport.
The Fund, which was set up in 2008, aims to help countries enforce the Convention and strengthen anti-doping capacity and educate about the dangers of doping.
UNESCO’s partners at the Convention include the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Council of Europe and Interpol.
UNESCO is working with the Brazilian Anti-Doping Authority ahead of the 2016 Olympics and Paralympic Games in Rio in order to strengthen its fight against doping in sport through education, prevention and testing and to preserve the beauty of high performance competition.
Chess – Bilbao, Spain
After four rounds only two players lead the field of the VI Ibero American Individual Chess Championship in Bilbao with 4.0/4: Peruvian Julio Granda Zuniga and Cuban Lazaro Bruzon Batista.
The tournament, involving about 100 players of 17 countries, is played from October 26 to November 3 at Campos Theater in Bilbao in which the 3-points rule applies. A player receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw.
