Cuba announced a preliminary roster of 16 players, eight men and eight women, for the Baseball5 World Cup, to be played in Mexico in December.
Briandy Molina, Orlando Amador, Osvaldo Dueñas and Cristian Basabe where all part of the team that represented Cuba at the Baseball5 Open de las Americas. The other four men are Roisbelis Núñez, Yoeris Basulto, Mario Sergio Rodriguez and Luis Enrique Garcia.
The eight women who have been named candidates are Yanisel Medina, Elianis Castellanos, Midday Valdés, Mariandy Torres, Shakira Aspiazu, Yiliena Otamendy, Claudia Lores and Lisney Rosell.
The athletes on Cuba's World Cup preliminary roster have an average age of 24 years old.
The selection was based on the outcome of the Baseball5 National Championship that was played in Santiago de Cuba in December.
Eros Bernal, who is the National Coordinator for Baseball5, will be the Chief Technical Officer.
Pablo Terry will be the head coach, while Sadian Fernández and Liorvis Savón will be the assistant coaches.
The final selection will include eight players, four men and four women.
Baseball5, the new urban version of baseball/softball, originates from the Cuban street game called Cuatro Esquinas (four corners). The game's popularity is booming in universities across the island.
Cuba will soon announce the dates for the first Youth Baseball5 National Championship, for players born between 2002 and 2005. At the end of the Championship, Eros Bernal will announce a pre-selection for the Youth Baseball5 World Cup. The tournament will be also played in December in Mexico.
Cover picture courtesy of Cubadebate.cu
