Panama's Cordoba to challenge for bantamweight boxing title
Panama's Ricardo "Maestrito" Cordoba, one of the country's top boxing prospects, will challenge title-holder Ukraine's Wladimir Sidorenko for the World Boxing Association bantamweight crown on March 11 in Hamburg, Germany, local press said on Tuesday. Negotiations were completed on Monday for the bout with the Ukrainian, who is unbeaten in 18 fights, including six knockouts, the fighter's agent Rogelio Espino told Tuesday's Panamanian press. Espino said that the fight will be second on the bill on the night: the main fight being between New Zealand's Maselino Masoe and Germany's Feliz Sturm. Cordoba lost last year, in a divided decision, when he battled Thai fighter Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym in Thailand, and has been looking to fight Sidorenko for the title ever since.
RICHARD GRFFIN: Smoke 'em if you got 'em, amigos. Following Cuba's reinstatement to the World Baseball Classic yesterday it's likely the communist island nation's president-for-life Fidel Castro is celebrating victory with a huge, homegrown stogie. "The president (George W. Bush) wanted to see it resolved in a positive way," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in an email to the Associated Press. "Our concerns were centered on making sure that no money was going to the Castro regime and that the Classic would not be misused by the regime for spying. We believe the concerns have been addressed." Score one for sports diplomacy. The problem arose on Dec. 15, five months after plans for the 16-nation WBC were announced, when the U.S. ruled Cuba would not be welcomed on to American soil because of a possible earning of American greenbacks. However, China was in. Go figure.
VERACRUZ, Mexico (CP) - Jodi-Ann Robinson scored three goals as Canada defeated Panama 6-0 Friday in the opening round of a CONCACAF under-20 women's qualifying tournament. The defending CONCACAF champion Canadians opened the competition Wednesday with a 7-1 romp over Trinidad and Tobago. Aysha Jamani, an 18-year-old forward from Calgary, scored twice against Panama while Eden Hingwing, a 17-year-old defender from Burnaby, B.C., notched her first international goal. obinson, a 16-year-old from Richmond, B.C., scored in the 17th, 72nd, and 79th minutes.
New Zealand's top golfer on the Nationwide Tour, Tim Wilkinson, has a jet-setting start to this year's campaign. On Thursday the Manawatu left-hander travels to Panama in Central America to play the opening event on the No 2 American tour. It's an indication he is dead serious about making hay on the tour, in which he finished 49th place after earning $US109,000 last year. Besides being mildly fascinated about playing on the tight Club de Golf de Panama course, which he's heard about from other professionals, Wilkinson faces a return journey to New Zealand afterwards. He flies home for the next two Nationwide events, the Jacob's Creek Open at Royal Adelaide and the New Zealand PGA at Clearwater, Christchurch, where he missed the cut by one shot a year ago. They are two of the most lucrative events of the year.
PANAMA CITY (FIBA World Championship 2006) - The President of the Panama Basketball Federation Miguel Sanchiz fears his country will be drawn in the 'group of death' for the FIBA World Championship 2006 on Sunday. Out of the 24 teams that will compete in the championships, Panama, who are ranked 34th in the FIBA listings, are the lowest ranked team in the tournament. "In all the tournaments we've played before, we were always drawn in the Group of Death," he told PA Sport. "But we don't want to go back home after the first stage. We want to put up a bit of a fight. "If you look at the rankings, we're supposed to be the weakest team, but we'd like to make it into the play-offs," he added.
Argentina's 1978 World Cup hero Mario Kempes was on Thursday named as the new coach of the Panama national side. Panama's football federation chief Ariel Alvarado said that the 51-year-old Kempes had been brought in to prepare the side for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. He will replace Colombian Jose Eugenio Hernandez following his failure to qualify the Panama side for next summer's World Cup finals in Germany. Kempes will take over in August after finishing his contract with the ESPN television channel to comment in sport in South America.
The surprise package of next year's FIBA World Championship in Japan is officially Panama. A country best known for its 80-kilometre long canal between the Atlantic and Pacific, people will once again know Panama for its basketball, for the country does have a tradition in the sport, and a long one at that. The Panamanians took part in FIBA World Championships in Yugoslavia (1970), Colombia (1982) and Spain (1986). No one will give the team much of a chance in the Far East tournament, however. No one gave New Zealand a chance before the FIBA World Championship 2002 in Indianapolis, either, but the Tall Blacks made it all the way to the semi-finals.
Ex-WBA 108-pound champ Carlos Murillo, Panama, was miserably knocked out by just a single southpaw left of Japanese rookie Goh Onaga in 0:58 of the first round in Okinawa, Japan, yesterday (Saturday). It scandalously turned out that Murillo had been knocked out by Jean Piero Perez in three rounds of the WBA Fedecaribe flyweight title bout in Panama City on November 25. Who allowed Murillo to leave Panama for Japan to fight in only twenty-five days after his KO defeat in Panama? In Japan, strictly enough, a boxer who got KO'd or TKO'd in his previous bout is forbidden to fight in 90 days for the sake of protecting the safety of the boxer. An investigation by the local commissions in Panama and Japan is expected. 
TAMPA - From his first trip to the equipment room in 2001, Frank Davis knew USF would be a good fit. For the first time in his short football career, everything was. The helmet wasn't an instant headache. The shoulder pads actually extended to his shoulders. Gloves? "Sorry, do I look like a receiver?" he thought. But the 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive lineman's best memory of that day was reluctantly asking for a pair of size-16 cleats ... and getting them. "They had cleats of all sizes, and I was amazed," he said. "I remember saying, "I'm not going to have problems with shoes anymore.' I saw the locker room here and said, "We never had this in Panama."' As a senior in high school in Panama City, Davis had size-14 feet but couldn't find football cleats larger than size 11 anywhere, so that's what he wore, taking his shoes off whenever he went to the sideline.
Panamanian boxer Roberto ‘La Arańa’ Vásquez kept his WBO championship belt last night by beating Nicaraguan boxer Nerys ‘Machoman’ Espinoza in a 12-round unanimous decision (118-110; 117-110 and 118-107), at the Figali Convention Center in Panama City. "The Spider" won in convincing fashion, and clearly outclassed his opponent during the entire fight. He went down in the third round, but it looked more like a slip than a solid knockdown, and Roberto was unhurt and returned to win almost every other round.
Ryan Shealy went 4-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and three RBI, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit two solo homers, leading Team USA to a 9-3 victory over Panama on Friday in a regional Olympic qualifying tournament. The United States (4-0) remained the only unbeaten team in the six-team tournament that ends Saturday. Four teams advance to the next qualifying event in August at Havana, Cuba. Team USA took a 3-2 lead on Shealy's RBI single in the third inning, and then chased Panama starter Jose Nieto in the fourth. Shane Victorino had an RBI triple and Howie Kendrick added an RBI single for a 5-2 lead. Team USA starter Steven White allowed six hits in five innings and finished with five strikeouts and two walks.
Roberto La Arańa Vásquez will defend his World Boxing Association Light Flyweight (108 Lbs/49.99 Kgs) championship tonight against fourth-ranked Nicaraguan Nerys Espinoza in the Figali Convention Center. The action starts at 9:00 PM, but the main event will start much later, after about seven warm-up fights. This is "La Arańa's" second defense of this title, which he won on 29 April 2005. World Champion: ROBERTO VASQUEZ PAN. Won Title: 04-29-05. Last Mandatory: (none) 
Nicole Pérez was crowned as the new Miss Reef Panama 2005 last weekend at the Atlapa convention center. She will go on to represent Panama. Congrats...
PHOENIX (CP) - Stubby Clapp went 5-for-5 with three RBIs and Sebastien Boucher had three hits and drove in four runs as Canada pounded Panama 15-5 Thursday at a first-stage Olympic qualifying tournament. Clapp, the longtime national team veteran from Windsor, Ont., hit two triples, a double and scored twice while Boucher, a 24-year-old Seattle Mariners prospect from Ottawa, also scored three times. "Boucher had a great game, he had the big knock (a two-run single) in the second which got us rolling," said Clapp. "The young guys are getting an opportunity here to help the program and they're making the most of it."
It's been 29 years since Panama has hosted the Central American and Caribbean Basketball Championship tournament. On Tuesday, Panama was choosen to host the tournament next July. Panama won out over Puerto Rico and Mexico, the other two countries in the running. The Executive Commitee of Amature Baskeball in America (FIBA Americas) picked Panama after a meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they analyzed the offers presented by the three countries. The games will be held from 4-8 July and will be played in the Atlapa Convention Center. Eight teams will participate.
