"This, in Egypt, is the first World Championship for the six Cuban shooters. Leuris Pupo went to Finland-2002, but he had problems with the gun and almost could not shoot," Laina Perez, the only woman in the team, says to Granma newspaper minutes before leaving for her training in Cairo.
The two-time Pan American champion in Lima-2019, said she is going "to enjoy the event, to make an effort in each shot and feel satisfied with my work in the shooting line. I will do it over the U.S. blockade, which prevents us from importing the ammunition and weapons we need in Cuba to train. These competitions are a great opportunity because they are the best at present, so they allow us raise our level y competing next to great athletes."
About her participation in the classic, she said that "unfortunately we arrived late and could not compete in the 10-meter air pistol, we will compete in the 25-meter shot put, in which it is also a pleasure to shoot with Pupo and Jorge Grau." Laina and Grau are also continental champion in the mixed specialty.
"I will compete on the 21st and 22nd. First, in the precision phase, there will be a different target from the duel or rapid fire, with five minutes to shoot each series of five shots. On the second day, rapid fire, there will be one-minute series, using 5.6-millimeter bullets. Each phase consists of 30 shots, for which I concentrate and just try to think about getting the technique right.
About being so far away from her family, the winner of the Central American and Caribbean Games-2018, in Barranquilla, Colombia, feels that "I start to miss them a lot so soon thank goodness that today we have advanced technologies to communicate; that shortens the distances."
After five days of competitions, China, leads the medal table with 40 medals (19 gold, 13 silver and eight bronze), followed by India (10-5-10), the United States (3-1-5), South Korea (1-4-4), and Germany, Ukraine, Switzerland, Serbia and Austria, who have each won one gold.
Translated y ESTI
