Havana, Cuba - The stellar Idalis Ortiz (+78 kgs) leads the Cuban women's judo team that will compete in the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, scheduled for July 10 to 26.

Along with Ortiz, London 2012 Olympic champion and double world champion in Rio de Janeiro 2013 and Chelyabinsk 2014, the squad also includes Onix Cortés (70 kilos), world bronze medallist in the Russian city, Ronaldo Veitia, head coach of the national team, told ACN.

Rome - Pope Francis exhorted today sportsmen to avoid the consumption of prohibited substances as to reach ''ugly and sterile'' victories, as resul of the doping.

Also he qualified of ugly victory obtained with 'foul plays, violating the norms and cheating others'.

According to the Pontiff, the sportsmen have a mission to fulfill, to be for all their admirers a model to be followed.

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.

París - Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Lacazette, and Argentinian Javier Pastore and Marco Verratti have been announced as the nominees for the Ligue 1 Players'' Player of the Year.

Paris Saint-Germain dominate the field with Ibrahimovic, Pastore and Verratti representing the club, while Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal target Lacazette is the odd one out for Lyon.

Havana, Cuba - Cuban Yarisley Silva won the gold medal in the women’s pole vault in the Games of the British city of Manchester with record of 4.30 meters.

According to press dispatches, the London 2012 Olympic runner up surpassed by 10 centimetres to her nearest rival the American Melissa Gernel.

Washington - Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2014-15 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, the league announced today.

Curry is the second player in Warriors history to be named MVP and the first in the team's West Coast Era (since 1962-63),joining Wilt Chamberlain, who earned the honor as a rookie with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959-60.