The Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) declined to participate in the Pan-American and World Championships of the under-12 and under-18 categories, citing the obstacles generated by the coronavirus.
A note published in the sports portal HIT states that the “unfavorable epidemiological overview imposed by Covid-19 would make any attempt at group preparation of children and young people extremely risky. “
He points out that “due to the impossibility of concentrating the preselections where their teams would come from, Cuba will not attend the Pan-American and World Championships for the under-12 and under-18 categories, respectively.”
“It is imperative that once again the priority is focused on the preservation of their health,” says the publication.
The FCB has already informed the World Baseball and Softball Confederation and the provinces of the athletes initially scheduled for the preselections of those events.
They would be held in Aguascalientes, Mexico, from August 28 to September 5; and in Sarasota (Florida), United States, from September 10 to 19.
In the comments of forum members that the site collects Cubadebate about the decision can be read one that questions the reasons of the FCB to prevent the participation of its young players in both tournaments. “Those reasons plus another one,” says a reader of the news portal.
Although it is true that the island is going through its worst health scenario and almost daily breaks its own record of infections with Covid-19, recently two Cuban athletes and the psychologist of the team that participated in the Pre-Olympic of the Americas, based in Florida , they defected from the national team.
César Prieto, one of the team’s promises, left his teammates hours after the Cuban team landed in the United States; and a week later Sile Figueroa did, who worked for the Institute of Sports Medicine as a sports psychologist, specifically for the Cuban baseball team.
Lazaro Blanco, the best Cuban ball pitcher, also decided to break with the federation of his country and stay in the United States, becoming the second player of the “team” Cuba to defected in the pre-Olympic in Florida.
Cuba was eliminated in the Baseball Pre-Olympic of the Americas, and for the first time in history it was left out of the Olympic Games in its national sport, causing pain and consternation on the island.
The Caribbean nation had received on June 21 its ticket to the Youth Baseball World Cup for under 18s, which will be based in Sarasota-Florida, for occupying second place in the ranking of America.
The position that leaves the island empty – and if another country already selected also declines to participate – would be filled by the teams of Nicaragua, Colombia, Argentina, Honduras or Guatemala, in that order.
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