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Cuba recover second place in medal table

Dominican Nieves Wu looks at the ball during the Pan American Games women's table tennis singles final against the US' Jun Gao in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday. PHOTO: AP

Five golds in athletics helped Cuba recover second place in the medals table ahead of host Brazil at the Pan American Games on Friday.

The US remains comfortably ahead with 87 golds, but Brazil is trying to rally past the Cubans and finish second for the first time since 1963.

Meanwhile, Olympic champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic tripped on the last obstacle to finish fourth in the 400m hurdles.

"It was mine, it was mine," Sanchez said.

Yargeris Savigne won the day's first Cuban gold in the triple jump with 14.80m, beating the previous Pan Ams record of 14.77m by countrywoman Yamile Aldama in 1999 in Winnipeg.

Savigne, who had finished third in the long jump on Wednesday, easily beat silver medalist Keila Costa of Brazil with 14.38m. Cuba's Mabel Gay won bronze with 14.26m and crowd favorite Maurren Maggi -- winner of the long jump -- finished fourth.

Osleidys Menendez won the javelin throw with 62.34m, ahead of Sonia Bisset, also of Cuba. Misleydis Gonzalez took gold in the shotput with a toss of 18.83m, beating defending champion Yumileidi Cumba of Cuba.

"It wasn't good," Cumba said. "I could have done better because I'm an Olympic champion. My performance wasn't the way I expected."

In the 200m, Roxana Diaz won in 22.9 seconds, edging Jamaica's Sheri-Ann Brooks by 0.02 seconds and Granada's Sherry Fletcher by 0.06 seconds.

Victor Moya edged Donald Thomas of the Bahamas to win the men's high jump. Moya cleared 2.32m, 2cm more than Thomas.

Cuba has 46 golds, six more than Brazil. Both countries entered Friday's events tied with 35 golds, but Brazil had more silver and overall medals.

The Cubans moved ahead on Friday morning with wins in flatwater canoeing and kayaking, while Brazil won kayak's K4 1,000m with the help of Argentine-born Sebastian Cuattrin.

"I was touched to win this medal for Brazil," Cuattrin said. "My reaction was to pat my chest in pride and to get rid of all my doubts for having been born in Argentina."

Cuba added another gold in men's individual archery from Adrian Puentes, but it was quickly matched by Brazil's equestrian team in jumping.

Pedro Lima won Brazil's first boxing gold since 1963 by defeating the US' Demetrius Andrade 7-6 in the welterweight division.

Also in athletics, Brazil's Juliana Santos won the women's 1,500m, and Canada's Adam Charles Kunkel the men's 400m hurdles.

Mexico's Jose David Galvan overtook Brazilian Marilson Santos in the home stretch to win the 10,000m in 28 minutes, 8.74 seconds, breaking a 20-year-old Pan Ams record by 11.63 seconds.

Brendan Christian won a rare gold for Antigua and Barbuda, nosing out Jamaica's Marvin Anderson in the men's 200m in a photo finish. Christian clocked 20.37 seconds and Anderson 20.38 seconds.

Megan Elizabeth Metcalfe of Canada overtook the US' Catherine Ferrell with one lap to go to win the women's 5,000m in 15 minutes 35.78 seconds.

Cuba added two golds in wrestling with Geandry Garzon in the men's 66kg and Alexis Rodriguez in the 120kg.

Ecuador won its first ever medal in men's soccer by beating Jamaica 2-1 in the final at Maracana. Eric Vernon put Jamaica ahead in the fifth minute, but Ecuador rallied back with Jefferson Montero in the 79th minute and Edmundo Zura in the 84th minute on a controversial penalty kick.

Mexico beat Bolivia 1-0 for bronze.

In the semi-finals of men's tennis, top-seeded Flavio Saretta of Brazil won 10 straight games to beat Argentina's Eduardo Schwank 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Saretta will face Chile's Adrian Garcia, who got past Colombia's Michael Quintero Aguilar 6-4, 7-5.

Jun Gao of the US won her third straight single's title in women's table tennis. The 38-year-old beat Xue Wu of the Dominican Republic 4-2, securing a berth in the Beijing Olympics.

"That will have a special meaning for me because I'll be playing in my native country and against the Chinese, who are the world's best players," Jun said.

In basketball, two-time defending champion Brazil edged Puerto Rico 97-94 with 25 points from Marcelo Machado.
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