Baseball
Backed by the best Season offensive, Matanzas will seek to be consolidated today on top of the 54th Cuban Baseball Championship when visiting the weak Camagüey.
Meanwhile, Villa Clara (10-11) will clash with Pinar del Rio (7-11), and runner-up Ciego de Avila (13-7) runs into Guantánamo (11-10), while Industriales (13-8) will face Las Tunas (10-9), and Artemisa (12-9) to Santiago de Cuba (11-10).
For Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Series also reserves the clashes of Mayabeque (5-16)-Granma (10-8), Isla de la Juventud (12-9)-Holguín (9-12), and Cienfuegos (9-12)-Sancti Spiritus (9-11), always in the house of the first ones.
Also from baseball, we learned that even stellar Yulieski Gourriel postponed his final joining to Industriales until January, he stressed his interest in being part of the national team to Veracruz 2014, since insisted that his highest aspiration will always be to represent Cuba, team of 24 players to be finally released to the press from the 4th-5th of November.
And also about the passion of Cubans, the president of the Cuban Baseball Federation, Higinio Vélez, said it is "an ever-growing" interest in Japan's professional league in hiring Cuban players for next year Season, after announcing that scouts of 4 Japanese clubs have visited Cuba this month.
Vélez was satisfied with the performance of the 4 Cuban baseball players who debuted on the strong Japanese league, particularly Yulieski Gourriel and Alfredo Despaigne.
Finally, Gourriel expressed interest in returning to play with the Yokohama DeNA Baystars but said he first wants to attend for Cuba to Veracruz, from November 14th to 30th.
Velez said that Cuba will take to Veracruz its luxury team to try to recover the scepter ceded to not attend the Mayaguez 2010 edition.
Badminton
Cuba's Osleni Guerrero won the crown at the Pan-American Badminton Tournament after bending the American Bjorn Seguin in a game which was held in Toronto, Canada.
For Guerrero, the match was a rematch of the Giraldilla Cup held last March in Havana where he fell in 3 sets but this time showed his class and won in only 58 min. in 2 sets (21-11, 21-18).
This is the 3rd Osleni's gold medal in 2014, as he previously won the Peru International Open and the Venezuela International, as well as the Bronze at the Brazil Grand Prix. The next commitment of Osleni is Veracruz 2014, Mexico, in November.
Chess
Cuban GM Isam Ortiz goes 2nd with 3 points at the 9th Continental Chess Championship after the first 3 rounds held at the Atlantic Pipa Hotel, in the Brazilian region of Rio Grande Del Norte.
Ortiz, national champion in 2013 and silver in the 4th board at the World Championship this year, shares the 1st place with 14 other players, but the tiebreaker puts him 2nd, behind the favorite, Paraguayan GM Axel Bachman (2645).
Meanwhile, his compatriot, GM Lázaro Bruzón, files 2.5 points, with 2 first rounds and 1 draw in the 3rd one.
The Fair, which grants 4 tickets to the 2015 World Cup, under the Swiss system of 11 rounds until goes next Sunday.
Volleyball
Cuba's women's team ended in the 4th step at the I Final U20 Pan-American Gatorade Volleyball Cup, after losing in 3 sets against Dominican Republic, played at the Eduardo Dibós Coliseum, Lima, Peru.
According to the website of the contest, the Dominicans won the bronze by 25-15, 25-20, 25-16, in 1 hour and 2 minutes, where Dominican Massiel Matos was the top scorer with 19 points, supported by Vielka Peralta (12) and Natalia Martinez (10), while Carmela Massip (9), Heidy Casanova (7) and Islén Castillo (7) stood by Cubans.
Tonight, the undefeated Argentina faces Peru in search of the gold medal.
Football
The Cuban football national team U-17 debuts today against Guadeloupe in the final stage of the Caribbean phase, based in Haiti covering 8 teams.
Cuba is in Group A along with Martinique and Jamaica, while Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Barbados and the host Haiti play in Group B.
According to the official site of CONCACAF, the top 2 teams of each segment get tickets for the Honduras 2015 world qualifying tournament.
Cuban Wushu School, a Temple of Health and Culture
The Cuban Wushu School, which will mark its 20th birthday early next year, is considered a temple of health for its practice of martial arts with therapeutic aims.
Many think that martial arts are only linked to fights and even to kill adversaries. But, Wushu School director Roberto Vargas Lee has a quite different perspective about this idea.
"We practice martial arts with therapeutic aims, we promote good health; for instance, Tai Chi Chuan, which is one of the most effective combat arts helps human health a lot. We do arts for life, not for aggression; we also use it as a defense technique for peace of human beings."
Professor Vargas Lee, 6th Duan in Tai Chi and 6th in Dao Yin Sheng, has headed the school since 1995, which has turned into a significant community project with contributions to education, culture and health.
The school, located in the highly-populated Havana municipality of Centro Habana, has found success in international Wushu and Tai Chi competitions with 20 gold, silver and bronze medals, just to tell about its sports records.
Over 400 kids are attending classes at the school, along with more than 500 senior citizens between 70 and 90 years of age. They take their therapeutic exercises and spend their day doing social activities, such as cleaning gardens and others related to environmental care. They also keep Chinese traditions alive in the small Havana site as they celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year, and traditional activities like the Dance of the Dragon and the Lion.
Senior citizens are a majority at the school, as they take their exercises that help them continue to carry out their social life, since many of them are retired. When they attend sessions, they bring benefit to their bodies, their health, physical, spiritual wellbeing. They prepare themselves to face every passing day with high spirit, joy and optimism, said school vice president MeyLing.
Many senior citizens suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure or gastrointestinal conditions, among other diseases, but they have found here the use of martial arts with therapeutic aims, not only relief but a way to face life with quality of life, said Meyling.
The school has achieved the mixing of Cuban and Chinese culture with respect of native aspects. This is something beautiful, said Vargas Lee and he added that cultural performances are largely welcomed by all the people.
Using martial arts to improve health and not to attack others, to be modest, simple, sincere, honest and discrete persons are so important that those who are not able to honor such a principle cannot be a student at the Cuban Wushu School.
