Havana/This Sunday, Cuba won another 10 places for the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games that will take place between July 24 and August 8 in Santo Domingo. The taekwondo team in the Dominican Republic ended with the gold medals of Kelvin Calderón (in the 80 kilogram category) and the silver medals of Marlyn Pérez (53 kg), Tamara Robles (57), María Fernanda (62), Elianet Crespo (+73) and Yoikel Goicochea (+87). In addition, two other second places per team in the mixed category TK3 and poomsaeand bronze medals to Kevin Vicente (54 kg), Anaisel León (67) and Brayan Cantero (68).
With the achievements achieved in taekwondo by the Cubans in the Grade 1 Open, the Island has nearly 300 classified athletes, which guarantees presence in at least 21 sports, including baseball, soccer, hockey, volleyball (indoor and beach), taekwondo and racquetball.
Despite the tickets in taekwondo, last year the discipline obtained poor results, highlighting only the gold achieved by Yoikel Daniel Goicochea and the bronze by Anaisel León at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción.
Cuba’s best performance in the Central American and Caribbean Games was in Veracruz (2014)
A complaint last February through the portal LMS reports revealed that athletes suffer “physical, verbal and psychological abuse by coaches.” The trainers Chanki, Denka, Arnoi and Anaisa are accused of “awarding places to those who pay for them or who have personal relationships with the trainers, instead of to those who deserve them based on results.”
The same media accuses the national commissioner and president of the Cuban Taekwondo Federation, Iván Fernández Quirós, of being characters “without merit” in sports. The case of Chanki is pointed out, when he “went from being a DJ to a national coach without technical justification, in exchange for favors and control over the group.”
Fernández is responsible for the fact that athletes “do not receive travel allowances, they are deprived of sports equipment and modules, despite there being donations.” In addition, the federation is accused of “expelling athletes with conditions to benefit the children of friends or family.”
Nepotism, he assures LMS reports, has led several athletes to “forced exits and a decline in the performance of young people.”
The Island has hundreds of athletes qualified for an event whose best performance was in the Central American and Caribbean Games that took place in Veracruz (2014), where it dominated the medal table with 123 gold medals, 66 silver and 65 bronze, exceeding expectations.
