In the month that is about to end Cuban cycling lived important moments with a visit to the Island of the president of the UCI Patrick McQuaid and the medals won at the Aguascalientes World Cup. Intense and full of the good news was January for the Cuban cycling. Beginning this 2013 Patrick McQuaid, head of the International Cycling Union (UCI) visited Cuba and a little later came Aguascaliente’s excellent results, in Mexico, which the third phase of the World Cup Track Cycling recently concluded.

Cubans Ramon Fonst, Rolando Tucker, Eduardo Jons and Rafaela Gonzalez will be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Fencing Federation.

This was the last version of the Tournament Flat Girón with the presence of headgear, from January on the so-called Project 16 of AIBA will rule amateur boxing. A simple glance to the final day of the Tournament of Boxing showed an event that lacks the sauce of the sport: the knockouts. And the fact is that the spectacular nature of this discipline is given precisely in seeing men falling down on the ring. There was not a single knockout in the gold medal contest of the Cuban national championship!

Surprise and a good one for all Cuban soccer fans was the title won by our national team in the Caribbean Cup by defeating Trinidad and Tobago in the final 1-0. Marcel Hernandez, in the 22 nd minute of extra time, was who scored the goal that sealed this historic result in a match that showed a 0-0 draw after the 90 minutes.

Last Wednesday was a special day for me, and not just by the fact that this day marks the day, month and year with the same number (12), but because I was lucky enough to interview one of the best players of Major League Baseball (MLB), Venezuelan Magglio Ordonez. Magglio appeared in the Latin American Stadium accompanied by prominent journalist Reinaldo Taladrid and I was lucky when he agreed to talk with me while broadcasting live for the COCO radio station the baseball game between Industriales and Villa Clara.

Yoan Manuel Moncada Olivares is currently full of expectation, because in less than a week, he will wear the jersey of the Cienfuegos team, as rookie, in the 52nd Cuban Baseball Series. And no wonder, because this young player knows there are hundreds of eyes on him due to his distinguished career at youth level, which makes him one of the top prospects in the country.

The first shout of ¨ Play ball¨ of the 52nd Cuban National Baseball Series will be pronounced next November 25 at the stadium José Ramón Cepero, when Ciego de Ávila and Industriales, champion and runner-up of the last series, will play the opening match.

The IAAF presents an exhibition with personal belongings of great athletes, among them Cubans Alberto Juantorena, Ana Fidelia Quirot and Javier Sotomayor.  There are moments when we think that time erases the trace; however, it is not always so. We imagine the glory given to our country by track and field stars like Alberto Juantorena, Ana Fidelia Quirot and Javier Sotomayor. We really never forget.

A total of 56 baseball players from throughout the country meet at the Latinoamericano stadium with a view to become part of the Cuban selection that will travel to Europe and Asia starting next October 20 as part of our team’s training for the Third World Baseball Classic to take place in March 2013. Manager of this group is Víctor Mesa, while the experienced Jorge Fuentes is technical counselor.

The outstanding performance of the Cuban athletes in London 2012 will grant that event a special meaning among the Cuban participations in Olympic Games. Fourteen gold medals were obtained altogether – five in the conventional Games and nine in the Paralympics version – placing Cuba at the same level among participating nations, in the 16th and 15th positions, respectively.

It seems that some of the questions that were clouding the 52 Baseball National Series are starting to clear. It became known that the stellar third baseman Yulieski Gourriel will continue his career in his hometown, Sancti Spiritus. Finally, after many street debates, Gourriel will remain being a key player for the aspirations of the “Roosters” to get a national title and it will as be always backed by stars like Frederich Cepeda, Eriel Sanchez and pitcher Ismel Jiménez.

The two best third base in Cuban baseball today are producing information these days. Michel Enríquez, from Pinar del Río, has already trained for the 52 National Series, while Yulieski Gourriel might leave the Gallos behind to join the pride of Lions. A few days ago we heard the good news from our colleague Yuliet Pérez in the Isle of Yough that Super 12 – as he is called there – is already training for the upcoming championship at the Cristóbal Labra stadium.

Improving the fifth place of the previous edition is the goal of the Cuban team that will participate in the Fifth Women's Baseball World Cup, to be held in the Canadian city of Edmonton. The event will run through next August 19. The Cubans will have a difficult debut since they have to face their counterparts from Australia, runners-up in Venezuela 2010. "We know our responsibility, not only because we have been in the team longer, but also by the confidence of our director," said the captain and first basewoman Yuleidis Charon.

Cuban boxing is not the same one it was years ago, but it still retains its world class, and is expected to maintain once more its vanguard ranking and contribute to Cuba’s results in the London 2012 Olympic Games. It has a pending debt since Beijing 2008, when it did not obtain any gold medals.