Cuba to miss women's pre-Olympic water polo
Xinhua, February 26, 2016 Adjust font size:
Cuba has decided not to participate in the women's Olympic qualifying water polo tournament, from March 21-28 in Gouda, the Netherlands, after five of its best athletes and a coach recently defected in Mexico, the national federation for the sport announced Thursday.
After six members of the Cuban team defected during a training session in Mexico, the decision was taken not to participate in the European competition, which will provide four tickets to the Olympic Games in Brazil in August, according to the sport's National Commissioner, Eduardo Medina.
On the possibility of receiving a sanction from FINA, Medina said the sport's world ruling body understands Cuba's situation.
"It is a shame, because we had a good team, maybe we did not have the potential to get a ticket to Rio de Janeiro, but we were ready to give it our best shot against the rivals in Group B (France, Italy, New Zealand, Russia and the Netherlands)," Medina told the Cuban News Agency. Enditem