Roberto Carlos Herrera shone on the second date of the Giraldilla badminton match

Havana, March 16.- Roberto Carlos Herrera shone brightest among the Cubans during the second day of the XXII Giraldilla International Badminton Tournament in Havana 2024, by eliminating the Canadian Graydon Robb and advancing to the semifinals.

The man from Cienfuegos also qualified in the mixed and men's doubles, while four other Cubans got their passes to the penultimate round of the competition, which takes place at the Coliseum of the Ciudad Deportiva in Havana.

Herrera perhaps played his best match against the northerner in his life. This is a rival that, although it does not appear among the first four seeds in the individual event, exhibits a good technical level. However, the local team surrendered with partial scores of 21-17, 15-21 and 21-17.

The intelligent game of Roberto Carlos stood out, with mastery of work on the net, without abusing the midfielder's diagonal crosses, using them at the right moments. He also attacked and lifted shuttlecocks, showing technical mastery in different types of hits.

The 21-year-old player joined rackets with Juan Carlos Bencomo and defeated his new compatriots Stefan Cabrera and Reidán Cervantes 21-11 and 21-7 in the men's doubles, an event in which they took fifth place at the XIX Pan American Games in Santiago 2023.

In the mixed doubles, Herrera found space in the semifinals, when together with Leyanis Contreras they dominated 21-11 and 21-18 over the Cuban leader of this sport, Taymara Oropesa, and Leandro Gil, one of the young talents who exhibits his skills.

Taymara continued to the singles semifinal, easily beating Guyanese Priyanna Ramdhani 21-10 and 21-12. She will do the same in the women's doubles alongside the Brazilian Fabiana Silva, with whom she defeated the home newcomers Angely Pita and Alina Sanz by 21-2 and 21-5.

In this last event, the hosts Leyanis Contreras and Maidalis Zamora were able to reach the "semi" without playing, due to the non-performance of their opponents.

They will debut against strong opponents on Saturday, Diana Corleto and Mariana Isabel Paiz, from Guatemala, who traveled with their best figures from the national team, except for the well-known Kevin Cordon, who at 37 years of age qualified for Paris 2024, his fifth Olympic Games. (Text and photo: JIT)