In another of the increasingly common negative results of Cuban sport, the women’s team baloncesto de la Isla finished in sixth place in the FIBA 2024 Centrobasket Championshipheld in Irapuato, Mexico. The performance was classified by the regime’s sports authorities as “far from the announced objective,” reported the official specialized media. JIT.
It is about the first time in which a Cuban team is off the podium of a Women’s Centrobasket which they attend, since they did not participate in the 1977, 2010, 2017 and 2021 editions.
Those led by Márgaro Pedroso debuted successfully against the weak representation of Costa Rica (62-49). Then they fell to the strong Puerto Rico squad (66-79) and to the El Salvador team (67-70) and were left out of the semifinal phase of the tournament and no cup for the FIBA AmeriCup 2025
However, after the victory over Guatemala (94-42), they had the clash for fifth place as a consolation prize. However, the match against the US Virgin Islands ended with the defeat of the Cubans80 cartons times 75.
As usual, JIT justified the failure: “We will have to put on the table the sensitive absence of the stellar Isabella Jourdain, perhaps the highest level player on the squad, and add the inexperienced roster that was assembled for the event“.
“The replacement in the squad for reasons of various kinds (emigration) dented the gameso much so that a young woman with little prominence to date turned out to be one of the best players in Cuba. “This is María Montero, who despite her inexperience had to assume a leading role and remain on the field for as many minutes as possible,” he added.
The official media also insisted that “the rest of the team did not achieve the contribution that the circumstances demanded and this caused a performance far from what was desired and from the third place obtained in the previous edition”.
So, JIT pointed to the lack of training and the poor physical shape of the Cuban team as the main causes of the poor result. Even so, he indicated, in a key of triumphalism and propaganda, that this team has “proven talent.” But, if he has it, he still does not demonstrate it in international presentations.
In the 2024 FIBA Centrobasket Championship, the Puerto Ricans retained the crown, defeating the Dominican Republic with a score of 95-81; while Mexico completed the podium by defeating El Salvador with a score of 84-64.
Recently, and also for the first time in history, the Cuban boxing team was left without titles in the World Youth Championship of that discipline, which confirms the sustained disaster experienced by the island’s sport.
So, for example, Cuba did not qualify any collective sport for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the athlete escape It’s a constant drip. For example, basketball player Bexy Yelena Claro Viset, a former member of the Cuban national teams, entered the United States in October, as she announced on her social networks.
Claro Viset was a member of the Holguín and Santiago de Cuba teams, and was a member of Cuban teams for several years. Tournaments in which he represented the Island include the 2022 Caribbean Championship.
The young basketball player broke ties with the Cuban system in 2023, when she decided not to return to the Island after ending her contract with the Salvadoreñas BC team, from El Salvador. Cases like his are repeated over and over again in the Cuban sports movement.
