THE BOY.- Against the clock, the boxing team Cuba began to travel the so-called “critical path” of his preparation towards the next Olympic Games in Paris.
In the midst of an economic crisis that has caused desertions, Cubans get ready for the summer tournaments and, as always, many of their best podium cards fall to their boxers.
Boxing is the sport that has brought the most laurels to the island in the history of the Olympic Games. With legendary figures such as heavyweights Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón, Cuba accumulated 41 golds in boxing since 1972. The next ones, athletics and wrestling, are behind with 11 golds each.
In Paris 2024, they aspire to win at least two gold medals in the men’s division, in addition to the fact that for the first time they could enter with a woman, their directors explained to The Associated Press this week during a tour of the National Boxing School, the hotbed of discipline.
The power of the fists on the island has been diminished in recent years by the departure of several quality figures from the country, such as the case of Andy Cruz and Yoenlis Hernández, something that occurs throughout national sport, due to the crisis and the offers that athletes receive from abroad to join professionalism or have juicy contracts in other nations.
“Currently we do not have all the potential that we had planned, as a result of which we had some very significant dropouts of athletes… who came to the events and were practically medalists,” lamented Rolando Acebal, the technical director of the senior team.
Acebal was not discouraged: “We are working with a group of young athletes who have been pushing very hard and we are counting on them.”
The goal is for three men to get tickets and join to complete the team of seven—four have already gotten a ticket in qualifying competitions—and at least one woman.
The champions Julio César La Cruz (92 kg) and Arlen López (80 kg), in addition to Saidel Horta (57 kg) and Alejandro Claro (51 kg), are those who have already secured their passport for the Games, although there is still a qualifying event in Thailand in which they could obtain the other three places.
A recent AP tour of the facilities of the National Boxing School in the town of El Chico, on the outskirts of the capital and where the men’s team is concentrated, showed the athletes in their practices from the early hours of the morning and the technicians closely following and correcting blows and movements with a stopwatch in hand.
“We are here preparing because each medal is built from the bottom up until we reach it,” La Cruz, the heavyweight who will go for his third consecutive Olympic gold in Paris, told the AP.
The “Shadow”, which will turn 35 precisely on the closing day of the Games, August 11.
A few meters further and after jogging twice around the entire perimeter of the farm that serves as the headquarters of the facilities, Horta and at least two dozen pre-selected people threw punches at an imaginary adversary personified in a sandbag hanging from the ceiling. roofs, climbed ropes and stretched.
Hope in Cuba:
“There is a critical route that has been conceived and is in the process of development and that allows us to reach the Olympic Games with good preparation,” indicated the commissioner and president of the Cuban Boxing Federation, Alberto Puig de la Barca. .
In addition to the Thailand qualifier, the Cuban team has a tight schedule. They will go to Kazakhstan in April for a training camp, they will participate in a gala in the Cuban resort of Varadero and finally the most important tournament on the island, Playa de Girón. They also plan another preparation stay in Russia before settling in France on July 1 to have time to adapt to the changes in time and weather.
Source: AP
