Leuris Pupo returns to Peru with a view to Tokyo 2021
- Written by Flabio Gutiérrez Delgado
- Published in Sports
- Hits: 1652
The London 2012 Olympic champion Leuris Pupo and his teammate Jorge Félix Álvarez, plan to return to Peru on January 15 to carry out a training base with their eyes set on the Tokyo Olympic Games to take place from July 23 to August 8 this year.
Julio Fernández, national commissioner of this sport announced to the JIT website that the two specialists of the 25-meter rapid-fire pistol, together with their coach Meinardo Torres, will remain in the Andean country until March as the start of their preparation, as has happened in the last two years.
Both athletes were already in the Peruvian capital at the beginning of 2019 as an agreement with the local federation, a very profitable stay because then there they obtained gold and silver, respectively, in that modality in the Pan American Games.
The economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba affects sport shooting, mainly in the acquisition of ammunition, hence in recent years the training of Cuban athletes has been carried out in other nations.
Jorge Félix's gold medal gave him the ticket to the Japanese event under the five rings. The London 2012 Olympic champion, Pupo, obtained it before in the XII Cup of the Americas in Guadalajara, Mexico, held in November 2018.
Leuris is the only Holguín athlete with the Olympic qualification to Tokyo 2021, while the javelin thrower Ulicer Aguilera Cruz guaranteed his ticket to the Tokyo Paralympic Games postponed to take place from August 25 to September 6, 2021.
Cuba has three other classifieds for Tokyo with the equally gunmen Laina Pérez and Jorge Grau, along with the rifleman Eglys de la Cruz, for whom the commissioner explained that variants are being sought for their training in Peru itself or in Central American nations, such as El Salvador or Guatemala.
