Cuban badminton players were without competing in international events for more than two years, as a result of the tense health situation generated by the pandemic. However, they maintained their preparation, reinforced in recent months, at the usual training center for the national preselection, in Cienfuegos.
Since last Thursday, a group of five Caribbean athletes have been involved in the Santo Domingo Open, Dominican Republic. They were Osleni Guerrero, Leodannis Martínez, Thalía Mengana, Yeily Ortíz and Marianne González.
Of that quintet, only Guerrero from Havana and Martínez from Santiago qualified for a final, the men’s doubles, held this Sunday. After beating pairs from Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, in that order, on the way to the title discussion, the islanders lost in two sets, 21-13 and 21-9, against the Japanese Ayato Endo and Yuta Takei.
Guerrero, runner-up at the Guadalajara 2011 Pan American Games and bronze medalist at the continental event in Toronto 2015, lost his first game in the singles match against the American Mark Shelley, and in the mixed match he advanced to the semifinals with Thalía, but they failed against a Japanese binomial.
Meanwhile, Martínez succumbed in his second match in the individual contest against the Israeli Misha Zilberman, who would ultimately be the monarch, and in the mixed match, in the company of Yeily, he narrowly lost in the quarterfinals against the Brazilians Davi Silva and Sania Lima.
In the women’s individual tournament, Marianne and Ortiz lost in their first match and Mengana in her second, against the Brazilian Juliana Viana. González and Yeily walked to the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles, however they were surrendered by a pairing from the United States.
