Cuban sports shooting had a fairly large participation in Tokyo. We are talking about five exponents, all with a considerable level and capable of earning their respective classifications by dint of… “where I put the eye I put the bullet”.
Of course, once in the Japanese capital, at zero hour, our people, with the exception of the phenomenal fast gunslinger Leuris Pupo with his silvery-blessed right hand, and his Pardini as an extension of his arm, took a toll on the fact of traveling for a good part of the cycle in the silence of the Enrique Borbonet industrial estate.
Dodging multiple avatars, without ammunition or electronic targeting and shot measurement systems, with hardly any training infrastructure with practically their preparatory habitat falling on them…
The strategy applied to the main figures worked, fundamentally Pupo and his endearing partner Jorge Félix Álvarez Llánes, the fact of establishing their headquarters practically in other latitudes after the Pan American Games in Lima, such as Peru, El Salvador and Spain in the final stretch ; in the latter he shared that base with Jorge Grau, Laina Pérez and the riflewoman Eglys de la Cruz.
But, even so, those oases did not supply the need for a fluid cycle, with stable competitive environments, with that blank for their respective sights and nerves that high competition gives.
With those credentials our team fought in the land of the Rising Sun, in a year that without much hesitation I would dare to say was good for discipline, boosted by the subtitle of Leuris at 44 years old with 29 undone whites and drawing in the style of “Billy the Kid”; the 12th seat of Jorge Félix in the modality itself, among 26 gunmen, demonstrating consistency in the elite of that event.
As well as the respective positions 14 and 19 of Laina Pérez in the pistol at 25 meters; and Grau in the air at ten meters. In addition to the 14th step itself, joining forces in the mixed air test at a dozen meters.
Rounding off the Antillean performance at the Tokyo Asaka Shooting Range was the Sancti Spiritus riflewoman de la Cruz, with places 23 and 37, in that order in the three-position rifle at 50 meters, and the air at ten; as well as Laina’s .32 in the air pistol.
Inside reality of the elite
Essentially, the returns accumulated by our main cards in that segment of the cycle that lasted from 2018 until the curtain fell on Tokyo, are what give them their respective locations in the world rankings of their weapons.
Thus, Pupo appears third in the rapid pistol with 3,500 points, and preceded by the ace under the five rings, the Frenchman Jean Quiquampox (6,250), and the very stable German Christian Reitz (4,050). Relationship in which Jorge Félix is placed on the rung 24-1 280.
They are followed by Laina, owner of the 28-1,200 in the pistol at 25 meters; Grau with 31-1,000 in the specialty of air; and Eglys in the 40-840 in the three-position rifle.
Although being objective, I am convinced that ours have the qualitative guarantee to overcome their current locations, in case they had more mileage for their sights.
Approach to Pupo
Any X-ray of Leuris Pupo from Holguín is more than deserved.
Possessor of extreme competitiveness and constant desire to improve; the best Cuban shooter of all time materialized at the Asaka Shooting Camp 583-21x (series of 290-293), and came fifth in the decisive segment. In the final he patented series of (3-5-4-4-3-5-3-2).
In five previous editions of the Olympic Games, Pupo has always been at the level of the best exponents of his event. We review him below, to attest to his status as the best West Indian shooter in history.
Sydney 2000: Ninth place with a circulation of 584 to one place out of the eight classified, with the same score as the eighth, but lower in the tiebreaker series.
Athens 2004: Eighth seat with a circulation of 585. The quorum of finalists had already been reduced to six.
Beijing 2008: Seventh in preliminaries with 578.
London 2012: He entered as third to the definition (586) and then emerged monarch with 34 whites “lying down”.
Rio de Janeiro 2016: With 583 he went fifth to the definition. That same square gave him the final with 18 units.
Simply beastly. I remember that at the end of Tokyo I dedicated these words to him:
… “Thank you Leuris, for making me crown my sleeplessness with a smile of full satisfaction, as if I were shooting bullets at your side. Thank you for that blessed right arm, for your personality, for leading Jorge Félix along with Meinardo. Thank you, gratitude is my most accurate shot at your greatness and humility “…
The relay
After the Olympic Games in Tokyo, shooting sports in the Greater Antilles had another test: the 1st Junior Pan American Games in Cali-Valle, in Colombia. There, our small entourage could not get any place on the awards podium among the six modalities called; being the highlight the sixth place of Adianez Martínez Roque-Eddy Vázquez Figueredo in the mixed test of the air rifle at ten meters.
Individually, Elizabeth Tamayo Bruzón’s seventh place in the women’s air pistol became the performance with the greatest connotation.
Which translates into the fact that, inconveniences and pitfalls aside, it is urgent to continue working with the relief of this discipline, from the recruitment processes, passing through its transit through the EIDE, and trying to establish, despite the notorious limitations of an economic nature, at least a domestic competitive calendar that allows at least one confrontation environment for each modality and category.
It is urgent to rescue or look back at the Enrique Borbonet estate, knowing that it requires a considerable investment. The balm of the extra-border training bases should not become a habit, because it is also exclusive to our main figures.
With some questions elucidated, and with the fresh memory of those 29 silver goals from Pupo, a perennial motivational injection… it’s time to get to work.
