2nd Youth Olympics

Cuban rower Orlando Sotolongo closed in the 6th position in the single sculls men's final modality at the II Youth Olympics and was awarded an Olympic Diploma in a colorful ceremony held in the Chinese city of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.

The Cuban delegation, consisting of 12 athletes and directed by Heriberto Suarez, Director of Sports in the western province of Pinar del Rio, has managed 1 bronze medal so far thanks to its judoka Iván Felipe Silva at 81 kilos.

The best Island's trump cards are focused on boxing, which involves 3 youth champions, Javier Ibáñez, 56 kg., Alain Limonta, at 60, and Yoan Hernández, at 91 kilos, who will stage from Saturday.

The Youth Olympics, a Jacques Rogge's idea presented in 2001, then President of the International Olympic Committee, was firstly materialized in Singapore 4 years ago.

In Nanjing, its 2nd edition, covers nearly 4000 athletes from 204 countries and regions, who besides competing, will also exchange experiences and be engaged in debates, technical discussions and journeys.

Soccer
Panama and Cuba play now a friendly match in preparation for the Central-American and the Caribbean Soccer Cups, to be played next September and November, respectively.

The stop is agreed at the capital's Rommel Fernandez Stadium at 20:00 local time in Panama, whose team will use it as training for the American Cup to be held in September in the United States while Cuba will assume it for the Caribbean Cup to be held in November in Jamaica, said Cuban coach Walter Benitez.

In that cap, Walter Benítez' disciples will try to take revenge for the 6-1 lost suffered at the last bilateral quarter-final clash during last Gold Cup USA 2013.

Three days after facing Panama, the Cuban team runs into the Guatemalan national team at the Mateo Flores Stadium in that country.

The next Caribbean Cup, of which Cuba is exponent monarch, will be held in Jamaica from November 6th to 16th this year, and not only gives 1 ticket for the Gold Cup 2015, but also for the America Cup 2016.

Badminton

Cuban male badminton player Osleni Guerrero will debut against Japanese Sho Sasaki in the 1st round of the World Championship Copenhagen 2014, from August 25th to 31st, organizers announced.

Guerrero, 46th in the world ranking, his best historical position on this list and best Latin-American racket, will have a tough opponent in Sasaki, seeded 15th in the tournament.

This will be the 2nd appearance of the Cuban player in universal contests, time in which he will try to improve his performance in the previous edition held in Guangzhou, China, when he lost in the 1st round before Spanish Paul Abián with partial scores of 14-21 and 21-23.

According to Roberto Moyinedo, head coach of the Cuban team, the Caribbean player could win the 1st game, but he stressed that the main thing is to compete, do it well and play at the highest level.

For the coach, the Cuban player lacks most often to have opponents from Asia and Europe, to further enhance his quality on the courts.

Before his incursion into the World Championship, Guerrero competed in the Grand Prix of Brazil, played this month and reached up to the semifinals, taking a creditable 3rd place that shows his improvement.