Havana, Cuba - Yania Aguirre, in the 49 kilograms division, and Jose Angel Cobas (74 kg), will be the first Cubans to fight in the World Taekwondo Championships to open tomorrow in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.

Among women, Aguirre will be responsible for initiating actions by Cuba in the second day of competition when facing Italy's Erica Nicoli, while in the men's event Cobas will fight against Kenyan Haron Mukada, according to the specialized site mastaekwondo.com.

For Aguirre, bronze medalist in Puebla 2013 (Mexico) and 42 nd in the world ranking, repeating her performance will be very difficult, since she will also have to face Serbian Tijana Bogdanovic (9th), junior world monarch, French Yasmina Aziez (2nd) and Turkish Rukiye Yildirim (6th), among other contenders.

Meanwhile, Jose Angel's (40) major rivals should be Frenchman Torann Maizeroi (7), Bulgarian Teodor Georgiev (12), Ivorian Anicet Kassi (20) and Portuguese Julio Ferreira (2), Granma newspaper said.

Besides these two competitors, Cuba arrived at the European headquarters with the monarch of the world Rafael Alba (87 kg), Olympic bronze medallist Rosbelis Despaigne (+87) and the also world bronze medallist Yamicel Nunez (53), who will compete in the following days also with the aim to match the performance of two years ago in Mexico.

The Cuban delegation, headed by Carlos Banasco, president of the national federation, is completed by Ramón Arias and Roberto Cardenas, coaches of women´s and men´s teams, respectively.