Pinar Del Rio Beat Holguín and is Eightth in Standings

The excellent work on the pitcher's mound by right-hander Yosvani Torres allowed Pinar del Río's team to reach eighth place in the standings of the qualifying board after beating Holguín 3-0 in a recent game of the 54th Cuban Baseball Series.

The current champion needed a win and Torres drew world-class throws in ninth innings with only four hits, eight strike outs and no runs at Capitán San Luis stadium. This is Torres' first game without runs in the current series and it is number 60 in his entire career. He now has a record of three wins, four defeats, and goes second on innings pitched this season with 75.2.

Pinar del Río's win was combined by Granma's success over Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo's win playing Las Tunas and Matanzas' victory over Villa Clara.

Pinar del Río has 20 wins and 19 defeats so far this season. The team has the chance to stay in this qualifying position because it has yet to play two more games in the sub-series with Holguín, two playing Granma, one versus Las Tunas and another playing Villa Clara, games suspended due mainly to rain.

Cuban Judoka Ortiz Ends 2014 in Top of World Ranking

Cuban judoka Idalis Ortiz ended the year 2014 on top of the world ranking in her (+78) division, and 6th place among the athletes of all divisions, as stated by the International Judo Federation on Wednesday.

Ortiz, from the Cuban western province of Artemisa and now current Olympic and Pan American Champion, got 2,808 points in the universal ranking, established in 2014. She was also named the best Cuban female athlete in individual sports in 2014, after winning her 2nd world title and the crown of the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico.

 

Cuban Dominguez Finishes Fifth in Basque System in Mind Games

Cuban Leinier Dominguez finished fifth in the Basque System, the last event of the Chess Mind Games, hosted by the Chinese capital, Beijing, closing the competitive season.

The Basque System is a chess competition in which the players simultaneously play each other two games on two boards; each playing White on one board and Black on the other. Moves must be made in the alloted time interval, 10 seconds per move, 20 minutes per game. Five rounds (10 games) determine the winner in tournament play.

The Caribbean player reached three wins, two defeats and five draws, but the most important thing is that he was only beaten in the match against Russian Ian Nepomnichtchi, event winner with 7.5 units.

Leinier defeated Polish Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov and drew against Russian Alexander Grischuk and Hungarian Peter Leko.

Leinier achieved 5.5 out of 10 possible points and partly erased his discrete performances in rapid and blitz events. The chess contest also included the rapid and Blitz events. Leinier finished tenth in the first one and eleventh in the second, results that do not respond fully to his actual playing strength.

The World Mind Games ended on Wednesday and included the participation of 16 Chess players on top of the world ranking.

Tennis

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named 2014 World Champions by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

The annual award takes in performances on the regular Tour and grand slams.

Wimbledon champion Djokovic takes the men's prize for the fourth time having won seven titles this season and the year-end top ranking for the third time in four years.

Williams wins the award for the fifth time in a career which has brought her 18 grand slam singles titles -- the most recent at this year's U.S. Open.

Americans Bob and Mike Bryan were named ITF men's doubles champions while Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy won the women's honor.