Cuba Eyes Spot in Baseball5 Youth World Cup Final

Riding high on confidence and yet to taste defeat, the Cuban team will face Lithuania today in pursuit of a place in the semifinals of the Baseball5 Youth World Cup, being held in Tepic, Mexico.

A victory would set up a later matchup for Cuba against the winner of Kenya vs. Mexico for a berth in the championship game, with the host nation considered the favorite.

On the other side of the bracket, the remaining quarterfinals will see Japan face Chinese Taipei and Türkiye take on Venezuela, the latter considered one of the tournament’s top title contenders.

The Cuban squad comes off a dominant 2-0 win over South Korea on Thursday in the final group stage games, posting scores of 15-0 and 12-2. In the round of 16, they repeated the feat by convincingly defeating the refugee team representing Syria, 16-1 and 9-3.

Champions of the previous edition in Ankara 2023 and currently leading the world rankings, the Cuban players aim to maintain their unbeaten record and move closer to securing the sole Olympic spot for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, where Baseball5 will make its debut.