Tokyo 2020: Cuba's possibilities in collective sports get reduced

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 20 (ACN) Cuba's chances of participating in collective sports at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, put off until next summer due to the COVID-19 situation worldwide, were reduced to baseball and women's beach volleyball.

Cuba had planned to qualify its baseball and women's and men's beach volleyball teams, but the JIT digital reported the absence of the men's team in the North, Central America and Caribbean Confederation's (Norceca) pre-Olympic games. Both sports are awaiting the tournament that will award tickets, to be held in Mexico next June.

As to the absence of the men's team, the beach volleyball commissioner told JIT that "Cuba will not participate in the men's pre-Olympic tournament, since it is mandatory to have played at least 12 international games". The only player who meets that requirement retired recently due to repeated discomfort and injuries after 15 years of activity, he added.

In relation to the preparation of the female pre-selection, they are still training in a so-called bubble at the National School of this discipline, where "all the conditions have been created to comply with the epidemiological protocols and access to the gym, the dormitories and the court is restricted to the players and their coaches.

The female athletes training in the bubble will have the important support of doctor Pedro Hernandez, psychologist Karidia Sidisve and physiotherapist Maikel Williams, all supervised by the commissioner himself.