MADRID, Spain.- Donal Duarte, one of the most renowned baseball players on the island in recent years, was excluded from the Cuban technical staff that will participate in the IV Bahamas Caribbean Cup 2022.
The decision was due to an alleged departure from the country, Duarte himself confirmed to the independent media Cuban ball.
“What they just did to me is disrespectful, because they told me that I had an illegal exit and that I had also gotten into a fight. Both things are completely uncertain. I am one of the few that remain in this country, I live for baseball and look what they do to me”, said the man from Pinar del Río, who, since his retirement from active sports last April, has directed the Under-23 team of his province.
After asking himself “what have 18 years of playing baseball in Cuba and working so hard been worth to him?”, Donald Duarte assured that he will ask to leave the INDER.
“They are alleging things against me. I really don’t deserve it, I can’t admit it. (…) If I had not initially been in the team, well, I had no right to claim anything, but I was and now they have excluded me, ”he declared.
After transcending the news, the sports journalist francis romero He described the decision of the Cuban authorities as an “injustice” and specified that instead of Duarte, Ricardo Eizmendiz will attend the Bahamas Cup.
Donald Duarte started in the National Baseball Series in 2001 with the Pinar del Río team. On December 13, 2013, he hit his 100th home run in this competition. The third baseman was champion with the Cuban team in the Puerto Rico Caribbean Series (2015), among many other successes.
He officially retired on April 16, 2022, in a match against Industriales, at the Capitán San Luis stadium, where he was fired by the fans.
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