Baseball
Isla de la Juventud eliminated Industriales in qualifying for the post season of the 54th Cuban Baseball Championship to overcome them this Wednesday by 6-5 in their own backyard.
Los Piratas from the Island were trailed by 1 in the 9th when the catcher Luis Abel Castro hit double with loaded bases to drive 2 runs before Yohandri Portal's pitching, who had previously replaced the defeated Alexander Rodriguez.
For the winners shone reliever Luis Manuel Suárez to tolerate only 2 hits and 1 unearned run with 6 strikeouts in 5 innings and a half, although the success corresponded to Yoalkis Cruz, with rescue for stellar Héctor Manuel Mendoza.
With this result, Industriales joined the 5th successive defeat at the Latinoamericano Stadium to say goodbye to their hopes to access to the playoffs, relegated to the 6th seat of the Table with 46 wins and 40 failures.
A lack of one day, Isla de la Juventud has 48 and 38, to stay in 4th place to intervene in the semifinals, with 1 game ahead of the defending champion Pinar del Rio, the other team with a chance of qualifying after smashing 10-2 to Artemisa, with the 8th success of Liván Moinelo and offensive role of William Saavedra and David Castillo.
However, Pinar is bound to sweep Artemisa and expect that Isla de la Juventud gets another win.
In other matches, Matanzas won 9-0 to Ciego de Avila to be ratified in the 1st place while the runner-up Granma defeated 12-4 to Holguín.
Volleyball
After its success over Chile, Cuba will go today to complete the ticket to the World Juvenile tournament this year as part of the Pan-American Volleyball Cup for women in the Under 18 category.
The hosting team beat Chileans in 3 sets on Wednesday and today they are expected to beat Costa Rica that has not won any of its matches.
Victory seems almost certain, as Costa Ricans have not scored even 15 points in any set before their previous rivals.
Awaiting for a tico miracle will be the winner of the initial duel today between Chile and Puerto Rico, the latter also hypothetically with 2 wins and 1 defeat, but it is really improbable for Cubans to be defeated.
Mexico-Peru and Argentina-Dominican Republic will be the rivals in Group A, where the 4 teams have already secured their presence in the World championship.
Chess
The facts of playing with black pieces and facing a stronger opponent did not prevent the Cuban Yaniet Marrero to debut with a draw in World Chess Championship based in the Russian city of Sochi.
Ranked 54th among the 64 women attending the event, the Caribbean faced Armenian Elina Danielian (12th), who had defeated her in the World Championships last year.
The draw was achieved in 49 moves of a Ninzoindia defense, and although it was only the first of the two classical matches convened between them, the outcome pleased Cuban fans due to the level of the rival.
Today Marrero will play with white pieces and if the tie persists, the definition will come tomorrow through rapid matches.
The good performance of the Americas in the opening day increased with the unexpected wins of Argentina's Carolina Lujan and Canadian Yuan Yuanling.
Lujan beat Russian Alisa Gallimova, 13th of the ranking, and the unknown Yuanling defeated Ukrainian Mariya Muzychuk (8th).
Shooting
Cuba came out gracefully in the 1st round of Central American and Caribbean Shooting Championship celebrated in El Salvador with the victory of Olympic medalist Eglys Cross Women's rifle.
Also, Cubans Alexander Moleiro and Reymar Estopinián, reached gold and silver; while Chile's Elias San Martin was 3rd, but the medal is for the Salvadoran Oliser Zelaya because Chile competes as a guest.
Olympic medalists Leuris Pupo, Eglys de la Cruz and Juan Miguel Rodríguez lead the squad of 17 Cuban shooters competing in this preparatory event for the Pan American Games, Canada, 2015.
