For the first time, Cuban women will be competing in a World Championship, a test that is perhaps too demanding for the current level of our female boxing, but essential to enhance its development.

The too late entry of this sport for girls in our country (just two years ago) means that we cannot yet aspire to important results, not even at the Pan American level, as was demonstrated in the last Olympic cycle, but it’s time to take the steps established to surpass that threshold and go further, as I’m convinced that Cuban women will do sooner or later.

With the middle of the previous four-year period, the first medals were achieved and we participated in the pre-Olympic tournaments, where we saw the gap still to bridge to excellence, but now it’s the turn of a World Championship.

Melany Girado (57 kilograms), Dayira Mesa (75) and Yoana Rodríguez (81), the pioneers who will mark Cuba's debut in a world event for women, will have their first contact.

It's a clear commitment to youth, as they are 20, 21 and 22 years old, respectively, so they can be trained for Los Angeles 2028.

The competition, which will start this Saturday in Nis, Serbia, will bring together some 500 boxers from 40 countries, in 12 weight categories (from 48 to more than 81 kgs), a real test of fire for the delegation led by Iván Horta, who has been on European soil for several days.

The head coach for the women's team knows what looms ahead, his goal nonetheless is simply to "do a good job," aware that his strengths are "the desire they have to do well in the ring and the courage that characterizes Cubans," as he declared before leaving.

The short time of work still leaves outstanding deficiencies in technique, because, although it may seem like just throwing punches, this discipline known as the art of punching while not getting punched, and as important as looking for the anatomy of the opponent is dodging their attacks.

The lack of knowledge of the opponents also hinders this modality, because there are many fewer international competitions, but in the end quality almost always prevails, and in the case of the Cubans, the most important thing is that they continue to develop so that they gain more confidence in the ring.

As with everything in life, if you don't have a reference point in your environment, it's more difficult to attain success, so we'll see progress as the number of national and international tournaments increases, because not everything can be made up for with training and physical preparation.

The medals we already have at the regional level will take a little longer at the highest level, but they will come, I have no doubt about that.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff