Chess
Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez will participate beginning Thursday in the 4th and final phase of World Chess Grand Prix from May 14th to 26th in the Russian city of Khanty Mansik.

Leinier, 2734 ELO points, will try to improve the results of the previous 2 stages he took part where he could only win a game, tied 15 times, and fell 6 times.

In the 1st phase, held in October last year in Baku, Leinier came in last, while in the 3rd, played in February this year in Tbilisi, Georgia, he rose to 5th place.

12 players, 9 of them with a higher Elo than Leinier, led by the Italian GM Fabiano Caruana with 2803 units, will participate in the final round.

World Chess Grand Prix has 4 phases covering 16 players who must play in 3 of the 4 phases.

Volleyball
The Cuban and Dominican volleyball teams dispute the Maximo Gomez Volleyball Cup since Monday, which includes 7 meetings in 6 Dominican provinces.

The event is held in honor of the 120th anniversary of the Manifesto of Montecristi, the program of the Cuban Revolutionary Party to fight for the last Independence War against Spanish colonial rule, which was signed by the Cuban National Hero, José Martí, and Dominican general, Maximo Gomez, on March 25th, 1895, in Montecristi, Dominican Republic.

The opening ceremony of the Cup was chaired by Dominican Sports Minister, Jaime David Fernandez, and the Dominican Olympic Committee President, Luis Mejia.

The 1st cap discussed on Monday 11th was won by the Cubans in the 3 sets 28 to 26, 25-21 y 25-17.

2015 Diamond League

Cuban triple jumper Pedro Pablo Pichardo will participate in the first leg of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League to be held in Qatar next May 15th.

Pichardo recently set a new Cuban record at the Havana' Pan-American Stadium, and he will certainly star the event along with her partner, Discus thrower Yaime Perez.

The Caribbean triple jumper, silver medal at the World Championship Moscow 2013, reached the 17.94m last Friday and surpassed Yoelbis Quesada's 17.85m in 1997.

This is the 13th best jump all times and Pichardo just missed the 18m mark. In Doha, the Cuban will face French Teddy Tamgho, and American Christian Taylor, world champion and Olympic champion, respectively.

Both Pichardo and Perez are looking for an outstanding result in the beginning of the Season. Four points will be given to winners, 2 for the runner-ups, and 1 for the 3rd place.

Cuban discus thrower got a 63.35m result at the Pan-American Stadium as well. With such result, she qualified for Rio-2016 Olympic Games where he has to deal with other important opponents such as Croatian Sandra Perkovich and American Gia Lewis-Smallwood.

Main stars of world’s track and field will compete for 5 months to win the prize. The first 12 legs will help athletes to be ready for the IAAF World Championship to be held in the Chinese capital in August.

Baku 2015, Cuba’s ICRT Sign Broadcast Deal

Baku 2015 European Games has announced a new television deal for coverage of the inaugural event outside Europe, this time with the Cuban television station Instituto Cubano de Radio y Television, Azernews reported.

The station, Cuba's free-to-air broadcaster, reaches 3.8 million households in the country, and is also Cuba’s official broadcaster of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year.

“This is our first broadcast deal in Latin America, but I am extremely confident that it will not be the last. Cuba is a country with a great sporting history, and I have no doubt that ICRT’s viewers will enjoy following the action in Baku,” said Simon Clegg, Chief Operating Officer of Baku 2015.

“The Baku 2015 European Games will complement ICRT’s coverage of the Olympic Games perfectly. Twelve of the 16 Olympic sports to feature at Baku 2015 will offer qualification opportunities for Rio 2016, so there is a natural synergy there,” he went on to add.

Cuba joins the United States and Canada, the Arab world, India, China, Hong Kong and Australia in showing extensive coverage of the European Games.

Roberto Gonzalez, Director General of ‘Canal Tele Rebelde’ at ICRT, added: “I have no doubt that the Cuban public will enjoy following this new important sporting event. Our viewers are passionate about sport, and the Baku 2015 European Games will be a fantastic display of sport and inspiration alongside the Olympic Games in our portfolio of major international competitions.”

The inaugural competition for the continent, Baku 2015 European Games will start on May 12th and gather 6,000 athletes from 50 countries for 17 days to compete in 20 sports.