Havana, March 16 (JIT)-- Roberto Carlos Herrera shone among the Cubans during the second day of the XXII Havana 2024 Giraldilla International Badminton Tournament, by eliminating Canada's Graydon Robb and advancing to the semifinals.
The Cienfuegos native also qualified in the mixed and men's doubles, while four other Cubans got their passes to the penultimate round of the tournament, which takes place at the Havana Sports City Coliseum.
Herrera may have played his best match of his life against the northern Cuban. Although he is not among the first four seeded players in the individual event, he has a good technical level. However, the local player gave up with a score of 21-17, 15-21 and 21-17.
The intelligent play of Roberto Carlos stood out, with mastery of the net work, without abusing the diagonal crosses, using them at the right time. He also attacked and lifted shuttlecocks, showing technical mastery in the different types of shots.
The 21-year-old Herrera teamed up with Juan Carlos Bencomo and defeated 21-11 and 21-7 his new compatriots Stefan Cabrera and Reidán Cervantes in the men's doubles, an event in which they took fifth place in the XIX Pan American Games of Santiago 2023.
In the mixed doubles, Herrera got a spot in the semifinals, when together with Leyanis Contreras they dominated 21-11 and 21-18 the Cuban leader of this sport, Taymara Oropesa, and Leandro Gil, one of the young talents of the largest of the Antilles.
Taymara continued to the individual semifinals, easily beating Guyanese Priyanna Ramdhani by 21-10 and 21-12. She will do the same in the women's doubles alongside Brazil's Fabiana Silva, with whom she defeated home novices Angely Pita and Alina Sanz by 21-2 and 21-5.
In this last event, the hosts Leyanis Contreras and Maidalis Zamora were able to reach the "semis" without playing, due to the no-show of their opponents.
They will debut against strong opponents today, Diana Corleto and Mariana Isabel Paiz, from Guatemala, who traveled with their best players of the national team, except for the well-known Kevin Cordon, who at 37 years of age qualified for Paris 2024, his fifth Olympic Games.
