HAVANA (AFP) – Cuba returned from the World Championships in Athletics without medals and a collapsed delegation.
Cuban sports authorities have confirmed that two athletes, including multi-champion discus thrower Yami Perez, left the delegation in the United States after last week’s World Cup.
A report from the JIT Bulletin, the official body of the Cuban Sports Institute (INDER), confirmed the defections of at least three people who were making up the team that traveled to attend the meeting in Eugene, Oregon.
“Athletes Yezilena Ballar and Yami Perez, and physiotherapist Carlos Gonzalez Morales, left the delegation with what they described as a serious lack of discipline,” the post read. He added that other members of the delegation were on the island and were received by INDER officials at Jose Marti Airport in the capital.
Perez, 31, finished seventh in the discus final in Eugene. He previously won a gold medal at the Doha World Cup 2019 and an Olympic bronze medal at the Tokyo Games last year. She was also a champion at the 2019 Lima Pan American Games, as well as wins on the Diamond League circuit.
Ballar, 19, competes in a javelin throw and defected before his world championship debut.
In an unprecedented event, Cuba concluded the Athletics World Cup without winning any medals.
The splits between Perez and Ballar occur in the context of a strong emigration of Cubans in general and the abandonment of athletes from all delegations from the disciplines that left last year. The Caribbean nation is going through a strong economic and social crisis.
Without further comment on the escapes, INDER’s official bulletin indicated that the next challenge for Cuban athletics will be the U-20 World Cup in Cali, Colombia, next week.
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