Pedroso and Betanzos lead Cuban team for Budapest

Havana, CubaOlympic champion Ivan Pedroso and World Championships silver medallist Yoandri Betanzos lead the team of seven men and six women who will represent Cuba in the 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics, to be held this weekend in Budapest.

Sixth gold quest

Pedroso is seeking a sixth World Indoor title in the Long Jump, having won five consecutive crowns in 1993-2001. He missed the 2003 Birmingham Worlds due to injury. He has had five outings this season and his best jump was 8.01 when he finished third in Moscow on 1 February.
 
Owner of another four outdoor titles, the 31-year old from Havana has won the most gold medals in the history of World Indoor Championships, together with Mozambique's 800m runner Maria Mutola, and Bulgarian high jumper Stefka Kostadinova (includes win at 1985 World Indoor Games).

Fellow long jumper, the Olympic finalist Luis Felipe Meliz ended his tune-up tour with a win in Leipzig on Sunday and aims to improve his fourth place finish in Birmingham.

Triple challengers

Yoandri Betanzos, the triple jump silver medallist in Paris 2003, has this winter improved his personal best to 17.39m and went over 17 meters in two other meetings: fourth in Stockholm, and first in Budapest's Sportsarena, the site of the this weekend’s World Indoors.

David Giralt, fourth in Paris, won the nation's second Triple Jump berth, ahead of Yoelbi Quesada, who grabbed the bronze medal last year in Birmingham. The 19-year old leaped 16.74 last week in the Hungarian capital, in his indoor debut.

In the women’s Triple Jump, the rising Cuban star is Mabel Gay, fifth in Paris, who made her indoor debut two weeks ago with a 14.34 third place in Athens.

On the track, Virgen Benavides has been among the ten fastest women in the 60 metres, with a personal best of 7.16. She looks confident and ready to make the Budapest final after beating Ukraine's 2001 World 100m champion Zhanna Block and Jamaica's Olympic bronze medallist Tayna Lawrence in Athens. She made it to the semi-final stage at the 2003 World Indoors in Birmingham.

No Garcia

Anier Garcia, Olympic 110m Hurdles champion and winner of one gold and two silver in the World Indoors, will be the team's main absentee. He strained a hamstring in early February and decided to withdraw from the competition to focus on his title defence in Athens.

Therefore, Pan American champion Yuniel Hernandez (7.57 this season) and Paris finalist Yoel Hernandez (7.61) will carry the Island's hopes in the 60m Hurdles, while in the women’s event it will be 2002 World Junior gold medallist Anay Tejeda (8.02) and 1996 Olympian Dainelky Perez (8.07).

Olympic Shot Put finalist Yumileidi Cumba (18.25) will take part in her fourth World Indoor Championships, having finished in the top six in the last three editions. She will be joined by Misleydis González, very consistent over 18 meters (18.55) in local competitions in Havana. Olympian Alexis Paumier (19.77 this season) will contest the men’s event.

Experience and history

Pedroso, Betanzos, Gay, Cumba and Yuniel Hernandez all won 2003 Pan American Games gold in Santo Domingo, and of the 13-member squad, seven have experience in World Indoor Championships: Pedroso (1993-2001), Yoel Hernandez (2001-03), Benavides (2003), Perez (2003), Meliz (2001-2003), Paumier (2001) and Cumba (1999-2003).

Since Roberto Hernandez' 400m silver medal in Indianapolis'87, Cuba has won a total of 26 medals (12 gold, eight silver and six bronze) in the history of IAAF World Indoor Championships and it has been in the medal tally of every edition.

The men have collected 23 medals (11-8-4) and women 3 (1-0-2). Pedroso, winner of five titles, and high jumper Javier Sotomayor (four) have been the most decorated athletes.

The Island has good memories of Budapest, where it achieved its first gold medals in World Championships indoor and out. Fifteen years ago, Andres Simon surprisingly won the 60m and Sotomayor set the still standing world record of 2.43.

Cuban team for Budapest: 
 
Men (7)
60 m H: Yoel Hernandez and Yuniel Hernandez
LJ: Ivan Pedroso and Luis Felipe Meliz
TJ: Yoandri Betanzos and David Giralt
SP: Alexis Paumier
 
Women (6)
60m: Virgen Benavides
60 m H: Anay Tejeda and Dainelky Perez
TJ: Mabel Gay
SP: Yumileidi Cumba and Misleydis Gonzalez
 
Cuba's historic performance in World Indoor Champs:
 
Indianapolis 1987 (0-1-0)
Budapest 1989 (2-1-1)
Sevilla 1991 (0-1-3)
Toronto 1993 (2-0-1)
Barcelona 1995 (3-1-0)
Paris 1997 (2-2-0)
Maebashi 1999 (2-0-0)
Lisbon 2001 (1-1-0)
Birmingham 2003 (0-1-1)
Total: 12-8-6