Cuba qualifies undefeated for Athens 2004

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

PANAMA CITY, Panama: For the fourth consecutive occasion, Cuba has qualified for the Olympic Games baseball tournament after winning one of the two available tickets for Athens 2004 by beating Puerto Rico 10-0 in the qualifying competition.

Puerto Rico had already lost to Cuba, 4-2 in pool play a week earlier. 

"This is the worst game we played here by far," said Puerto Rico manager Sandy Alomar Sr. "We had played the Cubans tough the first time, and it looked like we were going to do so again, but a couple of bad pitches in the sixth got us going in the wrong direction, and it all came apart after that." 

Puerto Rico had its opportunities against a Cuban powerhouse that has not lost in an international tournament since Ben Sheets and Team USA blanked the Cubans in the gold-medal game at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

The loss was Puerto Rico's third in five games at this nine-country tournament, ending a run that took them within a victory of Athens.

Cuba will face Canada in a game Cuban manager Higinio Velez said he'll treat "the same as any other championship game," even though the team's mission here already has been accomplished.

"This game has a lot of significance for Cuban baseball," said Velez. "A lot of people are saying that this team isn't what it was. We've won the World (Cup), the Pan American games and every tournament since the last Olympics. I think we've shown that this team has been renovated, that we are still on the top of the heap." 

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version