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• 12 / 17 / 2007

The Brazilian men's volleyball team won another vote on Thursday and took the lead in the Prensa Latina survey to choose the best Latin American and Caribbean athletes in 2007.

Until that moment, the Argentine soccer team Boca Juniors, the champion of the Libertadores Cup, and the Brazilian team were in the first place with 16 votes, but Reuters news agency gave another vote to the winners of the World League.

However, the runner-ups in the individual categories, Ecuadorian runner Jefferson Perez and Cuban jumper Yargelis Savigne, got closer to the leaders.

Perez has won 11 votes but he is still way behind Brazilian soccer player Kaka, who has won 17 votes, while Savigne has 14 votes and is second to Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa, who has 24.

To complete the list of the top ten athletes of the year, Reuters voted for Argentine soccer players Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez, Kaka, Panamanian jumper Irving Saladino, Venezuelan baseball player Magglio Ordoñez and Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell.

Reuters also voted for Ochoa, judoka Driulis Gonzalez and Greco-Roman wrestler Mijail Lopez, both from Cuba, and Argentine basketball player Emmanuel Ginobili.

Until Thursday, Prensa Latina had received 50 ballots from 13 countries, including Cuba (14), Argentina (9), Mexico (9) and Chile (6).

The survey will be opened until December 20 and the results will be announced the following day.

(CubaSi)