The Cuban cyclist Arnold Alcolea will defend today his leader's jersey of the intermediate sprints, when intervening in the seventh stage of the 50th edition of the Tour of Costa Rica.

Cubans Lazaro Bruzon and Isam Ortiz started as expected and lead the Carlos Torre chess tournament, which third and fourth rounds will take place today in Merida, Mexico.

At the height of the consecrated the world junior champion Javier Ibáñez (Matanzas) defeated today Norlan Yera (Villa Clara) in the best fight registered in the first three dates of Playa Girón boxing tournament.

Cuban Arnold Alcolea finished fifteenth in the fourth stage of the Tour to Costa Rica, individual time trial run between the towns of San Joaquin and Carrizal.

Pinar del Río, current monarch, conquered its fifth consecutive win accessing thus to the called qualifying zone in Cuban baseball championship, by beating 3-0 Holguin.

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

The Health and Sports Commission of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP by its Spanish acronym) sent an acknowledgment to the Cuban delegation that participated in the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games , held in Veracruz, Mexico.
________________________________________
HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 17 (acn) The Health and Sports Commission of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP by its Spanish acronym) sent an acknowledgment to the Cuban delegation that participated in the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games , held in Veracruz, Mexico.

The letter, delivered by the permanent working group of the Cuban parliament to Antonio Eduardo Becali, president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER by its Spanish acronym), highlights the role played by athletes, coaches and support staff in that contest, where Cuba was represented in 34 sports and won the first place.

The legislators also weighted the achievements of the Caribbean nation in the competition, where they won 123 gold, 66 silver and 65 bronze medals.

Mariela Castro, deputy for the Havana municipality of Plaza, conveyed congratulations to the athletes, from whom she said that are the end result of a collective work and they met the sacred commitment to the country.

Jorge A. Polo, vice president of INDER, announced that for the Pan American Games to be held in Toronto, Canada, in July 2015, Cuba has already qualified 415 athletes in 20 sports.

The training of the athletes will begin on January with an eye on maintaining the second seat, which since 1971 Cuba occupies historically, with the exception of Havana '91, when we won the first place, Polo said.

The situation with sports initiation schools (EIDEs by its Spanish acronym) in the provinces was among other topics covered in the commission which will run for three days at the Palace of Conventions in Havana, as a prelude to the 4th Session of the 8th Legislature of ANPP.

By such reason the deputies agreed to work together with local governments in finding solutions to the problems identified; task that will be supervised in the coming year.

Lisandra Guerra and Marlies Mejias ratify Cuba among the world powers in women's track cycling by finishing the current season among the leaders of the world ranking in several competitive modalities.

Solid pitching performance by the ace Freddy Asiel Alvarez propitiated the return of Villa Clara to the qualifying area of Cuban baseball by beating 3-0 Ciego de Ávila.

The Cuban Leinier Domínguez had good performances today and appears fifth after three rounds in the Basque system in the Chess Mind Games, tournament held in the Chinese capital.

Matanzas, current runner up, appears today as the first qualified for the elite stage of Cuban Baseball Championship in its 54th edition, after winning 7-2 over Sancti Spiritus.

Cuban Leinier Domínguez could just earned four points yester day and now appears eleventh in the Blitz Tournament of the World Mind Chess Games, headquartered in Beijing, China's capital.

The wrestler Mijaín Lopez, 130 kilos, and judoka Idalis Ortiz (+78) were elected as the most outstanding Cuban athletes in 2014, by the titles won at the world championships and the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz.

The Cuban U-20 soccer team showed itself very "inhospitable" when beating 6-0 Aruba, in the second and last friendly match at Pedro Marrero stadium, in this city.

Marked by the exclusion of head coach Alfonso Urquiola for the rest of the qualifying stage, Pinar del Río returned to winning form in Cuban baseball championship by beating 5-2 Industriales.

Jit digital newspaper published today the following note from the Cuban National Baseball Direction.