Cuba Defeats Kenya and Reaches the Baseball5 Final in Dakar

Cuba's Baseball5 team defeated Kenya 2-0 today in the semifinal and advanced to tomorrow's final of this sport at the fourth edition of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, a multidisciplinary event that will conclude on November 13 in the Senegalese capital.

After also beating France 2-0 (3-2 and 5-1) this Monday in the quarterfinals, the Cubans secured a place in the title match by overcoming the Kenyans with set scores of 14-7 and 11-1.

Now the mixed team from the largest of the Antilles awaits the winner of the other semifinal, between Chinese Taipei and Mexico.

This Sunday Cuba lost 0-2 to Chinese Taipei in a clash of unbeaten teams in Group A with scores of 3-5 and 4-5, after defeating Turkey 2-0 (6-0 and 3-2) and the hosts 2-0 (17-0 and 13-0).

With those results, the mixed team from the largest of the Antilles, a two-time world champion, could not advance directly to the semifinal, a goal that Chinese Taipei, the current world runner-up, did achieve.

The other four teams in competition are France, Mexico, Kenya and Syria, which appear in Group B.

According to the announced program and with the Stade Abdoulaye Wade in Diamniadio as the venue, the winners of each bracket will advance directly to the semifinals, while those classified in second and third place will play the quarterfinals.

The second-place team from Group A will face the third-place team from Group B, while the second-place team from Group B will play against the third-place team from Group A.

The quarterfinals and semifinals are being played this November 2, and the final day, scheduled for tomorrow, November 3, will begin with placement matches and then move on to the medal-deciding phase.

Cuba is participating in Dakar with 12 athletes: eight in Baseball5, recent youth Pan American champion in Barquisimeto, three in athletics and one in judo.

The athletics representatives are Adriana González in the discus, Daniselis Reyes in the high jump and Vanessa Velazco in the 200 meters, while in judo Kayla Lazaret Pita will compete in the +78 kilograms category, facing Australia's Hannah McHenry, a 2025 European Junior and Cadet Cup champion, in her first match in Dakar.

Cuba has accumulated 30 medals — 19 gold, four silver and seven bronze — in the three previous editions, placing tenth, in which it participated with larger delegations of athletes and sports.

In Singapore 2010 it finished in fifth place (9-3-2), in Nanjing 2014 in 35th (2-1-1) and in Buenos Aires 2018 in 16th (4-0-2).

The all-time medal table is headed by China, with 152 medals — 86 gold, 38 silver and 28 bronze — followed by Russia (159/74-51-34), mixed team (184/61-59-64), Japan (115/45-38-32), Hungary (86/36-24-26), Italy (108/34-37-37), Ukraine (92/26-31-35), the United States (79/26-24-29), France (89/24-35-30), Australia (81/20-31-30) and Cuba (30/19-4-7), in that order.

The organizers announced that 1,700 athletes are participating — 1,350 men and 1,350 women, aged 15 to 17, from 200 countries — competing in 25 disciplines.