Havana, August 15 (RHC) - The advance party of the Cuban delegation to the World Championships in Budapest settled this Tuesday at the Danube Arena Hotel, next to the National Athletics Center, venue of the World Championships from August 19 to 27th.
The group of 14 members travelled by bus to the hotel where they will stay until the end of the event from the Olympic Center of Budapest, where they put the final touches to their preparation.
Among the first to arrive at the venue were triple jumpers Lazaro Martinez, Leyanis Perez and Liadagmis Povea, the island's main cards in the world championship, which will bring together some 2,000 athletes from more than 200 nations.
Cristian Nápoles, Roxana Gómez (400m), Luis Zayas (high jump) and Rose Almanza (800m), along with coaches Yoelbi Quesada, Ricardo Molina, Ricardo Ponce, Juan F. Centelles and Juan Gualberto Nápoles, doctor Fidel Frías and physiotherapist Maykel Joe Dihígo, also arrived from the Olympic Center in the Hungarian capital.
"There is a favorable atmosphere in the group. The guys are very focused, you can see them encouraging each other. Today before the trip to the hotel - about an hour - they trained at the Olympic Center Leyanis Perez and Roxana Gomez, the others rested," Molina told Radio Habana Cuba from Budapest.
He specified that the conditions and treatment in the first hours at the hotel have been excellent, the accreditation was fast and in the afternoon several athletes and coaches will make the journey to the facility to calculate the time delay. Some athletes will test the track, he said.
This same day, athletes Silinda Morales and Alejandro Parada landed from the Guadalajara Training Center (Spain) accompanied by coach Hilda Elisa Ramos, the head of the delegation, María Caridad Colón, the national commissioner Rolando Charroó and the team manager Jorge Luis Aguilera.
Meanwhile, the garrochista Eduardo Nápoles, the hurdler Greisys Roble, and the sprinters Yunisleidys García, Yarima García and Jocelyn Echazabal, together with the trainer José Feliciano Bilirs, arrived after a long trip from Havana.
The delegation will be completed in the next few hours with the last group that has been training at the Pan American Stadium in eastern Havana.
The first Cubans to compete in the world championship, on the opening day (Saturday), will be the triple jumpers Lazaro Martinez and Cristian Napoles, the discus thrower Mario Diaz, and Ronald Mencias and Yasmani Fernandez (hammer), all in qualifying events.
In the history of the world championships, Cuba is in an outstanding eighth place in the medal standings with 60 medals (22-24-14). Cuba's best performance came in Athens-97, where it finished a phenomenal third place with six medals (4-1-1). The worst was last year in Eugene (USA), when it left without medals for the first time in its history.
