Kazan.- WITHOUT BARELY recovering after the extensive journey that brought them to this city, the Cuban team today faced its commitment against the Uzbekistan team, winner of the opening of the physical basketball tournament of the Brics 2024 Sports Games.
The Central Asian team emerged victorious in the digital segment with a score of 11-6. Then, overcoming a fairly even start on the court, they sealed success with a favorable 17-11 that established the overall score of 28-17.
In the format established for this competition, two of the four members of each team take on the duel from the screen for seven minutes. The fight on the field lasts that same time, but with a third player who assists his teammates at any time the coach has.
Despite the obvious fatigue of the Cubans, the effort was rewarded by the fans who enjoyed an intense clash and cheered the actions of both teams.
«We faced a team that we did not know and we had doubts about what we could do in the digital part. We started with a five-point disadvantage, but the physicality also took its toll on us, which was more evident in the middle of the game,” he said. HIT coach Julio Enrique Altunaga.
«Almost four days of travel and we also arrived at dawn. In other words, there was no recovery time. Despite everything, the team looked good, with the desire to win. So we expect a better performance against Brazil this Sunday and Monday against Bosnia Herzegovina,” commented the veteran coach.
For his part, Omar Correa, in charge of guiding the team in electronic duels, explained that this is a very recent modality, playing the same time digitally as on the court.
«This greatly equates the skills in both modalities and to win, the players have to perform in both to achieve the highest score in the sum of their performances. The Cuban team has its physical strength in its favor, but it has deficiencies digitally and we are working on that aspect,” he noted.
On the day, the Cuban school of wushu was represented by Leandro Cordero, the youngest member of the quartet, who improved his previous performance with a single sword, totaling 8,750 points.
This Sunday the four exponents will be in charge of closing the Island’s presentations in this discipline. Leandro will attack with two sabers; René Álvarez in the hands-free chachuan modality, while Ricardo Ortega and Hiroshi Torres will do it in the taijiquan modality.
Russia, India and China maintained their leadership in that sport. The Cubans have earned the admiration of rivals and fans, thanks to the dedication in each demonstration and the respect towards this martial art, despite the limited international experience of Leandro, Ricardo and René.
