Cuba will make its debut today in the first day of competitions at the 17th edition of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, in taekwondo, sport shooting and archery, after the official opening of the Parisian multi-sport event which will conclude on 8 September.
The first for the Cuban delegation of 22 athletes with disabilities, 10 coaches and a guide, will be the taekwondist Lilisbet Rodriguez, in the 47 kilograms, K44 category, the shooters De Angelo Loriga and Alexis Reina, in the 10-metre air pistol, and the archer Ledys Posada, in the open recurve bow.
According to the programme of the competition and the programme of the largest of the Antilles, Lilisbet’s first opponent in the round of 16 will be the Afghan Katia Khudadadiz, who competes for the refugee team, based in the Grand Palais.
Loriga and Reina will start pistol in hand in the preliminary phase at the Cháteauroux Shooting Centre, as will Leydis with the bow, but on the Esplanade des Invalides.
Cuba is aiming for around 10 medals, with between four and five crowns, and to be among the top 25 countries, with a presence in eight sports.
Parathletics, with 10 parathletes, three coaches and a guide, is the most represented in the delegation, which is completed by parajudo (1-1-0), para-swimming (2-1-0), parataekwondo (3-1-0), para-bowling (1-1-0), table paratriathlon (1-1-0), archery (1-1-0), and para-sports (3-1-0).
Cuba has accumulated 91 medals (43-20-28) in its eight Paralympic participations, distributed in Barcelona 92 (3-3-3), Atleta 1996 (8-3-0), Sydney 2000 (4-2-2), Athens 2004 (2-2-7), Beijing 2008 (5-3-6), London 2012 (9-5-3), Rio de Janeiro 2016 (8-1-6) and Tokyo 2020 (4-1-1).
World record holders and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champions and flag bearers Omara Durand and Robiel Yankiel Sol will again carry the burden of Cuba’s top results.
As in the Japanese capital, Omara is favourite to top the podium in the 100m, 200m and 400m, T12 category, and if she repeats she would reach 11 titles at this level, while Robiel Yankiel will be looking for his second in the long jump.
The gold medal haul of 32-year-old Omara, who hails from the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, began in London, with titles in the 100m (T13) and 400m (T13), followed by Rio de Janeiro, in the 100m, 200m and 400m (T12), and Tokyo, in the 100m, 200m and 400m (T12), in the last two editions with her guide Junior Kindelán.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Robiel Yankiel, from Havana, holds the crown in the Japanese capital in the long jump (T47).
Around 4,500 athletes with physical, intellectual and visual disabilities and paralysis or brain injury from 182 countries will participate in 23 sports – 549 events – at 18 venues.
