Two of the Cuban boxers who must travel to Tokyo would be infected with COVID-19

Julio Cesar La Cruz and Roniel Iglesias, two Cuban boxers from the team that must participate in the Tokyo Olympics, have tested positive for the coronavirus, the independent media reported this Tuesday.Cuban Diary citing "sources close to the team."

CyberCuba was able to independently verify with hospital sources that both boxers are admitted to the 2nd G room of the "Juan Díaz Soto" Military Hospital in Havana.

Center staff confirmed the admissions but refused to give the detailed report and whether or not they were asymptomatic.

The 31-year-old La Cruz from Camagüey, known as "The Shadow" for his precise technique to avoid his rival's blows, won gold in light heavyweight in Rio 2016 and dominated the category for years, achieving his fourth world title in 2017. Two Years later, he was surprised by Bekzad Nurdauletov, from Kazakhstan, in the semifinals and had to settle for the bronze medal.

Since then, the Cuban has risen from the light heavyweight category (81 kilos) to the heavyweight category (91).

"I was favored by a sabbatical year due to COVID issues, and this year I was able to adapt (...), I feel very good in that new division," the boxer recently declared to the AFP agency in videos sent from Mexico, where he He was training with the Cuban team.

In June, the Cuban boxers qualified for the Tokyo Olympics dominated the modest Mexican professional squad that they had just faced at the San Marcos Fair palenque facilities in Aguascalientes.with a harvest of seven wins and one draw.

In February, the captain of the Cuban squad also carried out joint training with the main boxing figures of Kazakhstan.

In recent years it has been very difficult for Cuban boxers to see boxers from Europe and Asia more frequently. “We had not been able to prepare with foreign athletes and without a doubt it has been a good measure to be able to collide with this high level,” La Cruz said then.

For his part, boxer from Pinar del Río Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo, 32 years old, Olympic champion of the London 2012 event and silver medalist in Beijing 2008, was also admitted with COVID-19.

Iglesias was another of the Cuban boxers with a chance of winning a medal in Tokyo.

So far, the two boxers remain among the 69 Cuban athletes who will participate in the Games. The other boxers on the Cuban team would be Yosbany Veitía (52 kg), Lázaro Álvarez (57 kg), Andy Cruz (63 kg), Arlen López (81 kg) and Leinier Peró (+91 kg).

José Antonio Miranda, general director of high performance of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), said this Tuesday from Tokyo that the total number of competitors was fixed after the island did not receive any of the last places assigned by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

INDER made it official that Cuba will be represented by 36 men and 33 women in 15 sports, and will participate in 64 events. The distribution of places is at the forefront of athletics (18), wrestling (12), boxing (7) and judo (6).

Other Cubans will compete in canoeing (5), shooting (5), weightlifting (4), table tennis (2), beach volleyball (2), swimming (2), modern pentagon (2), taekwondo (1) , artistic gymnastics (1), cycling (1) and rowing (1).

The Tokyo Olympics, which were due to take place last year,were postponed due to COVID-19 to next July 23. Qualified athletes must travel in advance to the Olympic Games venue due to the difference in time zones, which usually affects Cubans.