Cuban rowing singles aiming at Olympic qualifiers

Cuba's top singles rowers have been training since Friday in the central province of Cienfuegos, with their focus on the qualifying tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Angel Luis Garcia, president and national commissioner of Rowing, told the Cuban News Agency that the four -three men and one woman- chosen, under the guidance of coach Joan Manuel Paula, are Reidy Cardona, Leduar Suarez, Roberto Carlos Paz and Yariulvis Cobas Garcia.

At the Jose Smith Comas aquatic track in the La Coronela dam, in Caimito, in the western province of Artemisa, they will conclude their preparation for the selected athletes to leave for Rio de Janeiro, venue of the pre-Olympic Games, scheduled to be held March 14 to 19.

On the number of places in contention for the singles players, he explained that there will be five, that is, the first five of the finals of six athletes, so the first purpose is to advance to the finals, Garcia recalled.

From the group, the performances of Reidy Cardona and Yariulvis Cobas in the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023 and the Pan American Games of Santiago de Chile 2023 stand out.

It is important to point out that in both cases the main results of both were in collective modalities.

In the previous Olympic edition of Tokyo 2020, the only Cuban rower to qualify was Milena Venegas, in the 1x, who finished in 17th place, valid for fifth place in the C final.

The best male performance of Cuban rowing in the Olympic Games was by Ismael Carbonell, Arnaldo Rodriguez and Roberto "Waco" Ojeda - deceased - in the double sculls (2+), in Barcelona 1992, with fifth place in the A final.

Among the women, Maira Gonzalez stands out, seventh place -first in the B final- in the 1x at the Sydney 2000 Games.