Olympic and triple world boxing champion Andy Cruz was caught attempting to flee Cuba, the island nation's boxing federation stated on Tuesday, accusing the the fighter of “critical indiscipline.”
The Cuban Boxing Federation (FCB) issued a press release on the web site of Cuba's INDER sports activities institute saying it had been “knowledgeable that the athlete Andy Cruz Gomez took half in an try to illegally depart the nation.” However the FCB gave no extra particulars in regards to the escape try nor Cruz's present whereabouts.
Cruz, who received gold on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, is taken into account by many consultants to be the best Cuban boxer of his era. He faces a brief or everlasting suspension from Cuban boxing over the incident.
The FCB stated it was a case of “critical indiscipline” that will “generate corresponding assessments” that will quickly be revealed.
Cruz didn't flip as much as the nationwide championships final week, nor a pre-competition coaching camp.
‘Lack of motivation’
The Oncuba web site had stated two sources near the boxer claimed he had left the nation, with out specifying the place he was headed. The FCB stated Cruz's “apparent lack of motivation” was behind his exclusion from a Cuban skilled staff journey to Mexico to participate in a boxing match.
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Boxing is a supply of nationwide delight for Cuba, which has received 41 Olympic titles and 80 world crowns within the nominally newbie model of the game, now recognized formally as Olympic-style boxing. There may be nothing uncommon about Cuban athletes attempting to flee their nation as Cuba has lengthy prevented its sports activities stars from turning skilled, forcing them to compete for nationwide glory fairly than private rewards.
However Cuba has slowly been opening as much as skilled sport.
In April, communist authorities lastly allowed boxers to participate in skilled boxing competitions, resulting in the staff match in opposition to Mexico, which the Cubans received 6-0 with 5 knockouts, even with out Cruz. Different sports activities corresponding to baseball have additionally embraced restricted professionalism lately as final month Cuban authorities reached an settlement with the game's worldwide governing physique, the WBSC, to permit Cuban baseballers to handle their very own skilled contracts with golf equipment in overseas leagues.
Even so, in current months wrestler Ismael Borrero, the Olympic champion at Rio 2016, and canoeist Fernando Dayan Jorge, Olympic champion in Tokyo, each escaped the nation.
Cuba is struggling its worst recession in three a long time, partly provoked by the coronavirus pandemic and the ramping up of U.S. sanctions beneath former president Donald Trump, which has led to mass migration.
