Cuba confirms desertion of pitcher Yaimé Pérez

Cuba returned from the World Athletics Championships without medals and a decimated delegation.

Cuban sports authorities confirmed that two athletes, including multi-champion discus thrower Yaimé Pérez, left the delegation in the United States after the World Cup last week.

A report from the JIT bulletin, official organ of the Cuban Sports Institute (INDER), corroborated the defections of at least three people who made up the team that traveled to the meeting in Eugene, Oregon.

“The athletes Yiselena Ballar and Yaimé Pérez, and the physiotherapist Carlos González Morales, left the delegation in what they describe as serious indiscipline,” the publication said. He added that the other members of the delegation were on the island and were received by INDER officials at the José Martí airport in the capital.

Perez, 31, placed seventh in the discus final in Eugene. Previously, she took a gold medal at the Doha World Cup in 2019 and the bronze Olympic medal at the Tokyo Games last year. She was also a champion at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, as well as victories on the Diamond League circuit.

Ballar, 19, was due to compete in the javelin throw but dropped out ahead of his Worlds debut.

In an unprecedented event, Cuba closed an Athletics World Cup without winning medals.

The defections of Pérez and Ballar occur within the framework of a strong migration of Cubans in general and the abandonment of athletes from almost each of the delegations of the disciplines that left in the last year. The Caribbean nation is going through a strong economic and social crisis.

Without further comment on the desertions, the official bulletin of INDER indicated that the next challenge for Cuban athletics will be the U20 World Cup in Cali, Colombia, next week.

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