Badminton
With the dispute over the qualifying round the Peru Open Badminton Tournament kicks off tomorrow with the presence of Cuban Osleni Guerrero.
Guerrero will try to repeat the title in that event, scheduled to be held until 26th, which must be attended by several major American players.
The Cuba's best racketeer is one of the major contenders for the crown in the men's individual event in a fight he won in 2013 and 2014 editions.
Second-seeded for such competition, the representative of the Caribbean Island debuts on Thursday against the Czech Milan Ludik; while the 1st seeded, Guatemalan Kevin Cordon, will go against England's Andrew Smith the same day. After this event, the Cuban will take part in the International of Chile, in an effort to keep climbing places in the rankings and ensure his classification for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics.
Chess World Team Championship
Cuba and Hungary tied 2-2 points in its debut at the Chess World Team Championship, underway in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia, attended by 10 countries.
Cuba's only win was achieved by Yuniesky Quesada (2,629 ELO points) who defeated on the 3rd board by Richard Rapport (2,710).
Meanwhile, Hungarian Csaba Balogh (2651) beat the Caribbean Isam Ortiz (2612) in an outcome that tied the match because draws prevailed in the first two boards.
As published in www.chess-results.com, Leinier Domínguez (2,729) signed peace with Peter Leko (2713) and Lazaro Bruzón (2691) did the same in the 2nd board against Zoltan Almasi (2 698).
With this result both teams appear in mid of the standings, which is led by India that beat Egypt 3-1, because the scoring system is similar to the one applied in the World Olympiad: 2 points per win and 1 per draw.
Israel, Ukraine and China reached wins 2.5-1.5 at the expense of Armenia, Russia and the United States, respectively.
Today Cubans face Russia, defending champion, and will take black pieces on boards 1 and 3, while India-USA, Hungary-China, Ukraine-Armenia and Egypt vs. Israel complete the other matches.
FIFA: Russia's Preparations for 2018 World Cup Are Excellent
The president of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) Joseph Blatter, is pleased with progress in Russia's preparations for hosting the 2018 World Football Cup finals.
At a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on today Blatter said Russia's organizing committee and the country's leader in person deserved 5 star appraisal for the work done so far to prepare for the global event.
Vladimir Putin in his turn told Blatter that Russia will not disappoint FIFA and football fans round the globe and will organize the 2018 World Cup at a decent level.
The meeting took place during the SportAccord Convention is a 6-day annual gathering of leading representatives from international sport.
Russia is currently gearing up for the Preliminary Draw, which is the first major kick-off event ahead of the global tournament itself. The draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition will be held on July 25th in Russia's 2nd largest city of St. Petersburg with 208 nations already registered in which Russia, as the hosting nation, automatically qualified for the championship and therefore is not taking part in the preliminary competition.
Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over 4 years ago, whose matches will be held now between June 14th and July 15th at 12 stadiums located in 11 cities across Russia.
