• Submitted by: admin
• Sports
• 05 / 19 / 2007

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Martinez, 25, moved into third place in the 2007 world rankings behind Athens 2004 champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway (86.39) and Aleksandr Ivanov of Russia (86.26).

Martinez, champion at the Cartegena 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games, reached his best throw on his third attempt to beat Scott Russell of Canada (83.98), one of his main rivals at the continental event, and Igor Janik of Poland (79.52).

A finalist at Helsinki 2005, the athlete from Camaguey has set his sights on the 90-meter barrier and winning a medal at the Osaka, Japan World Championship in August.

Winning the event at Fortaleza was Martinez second recent triumph after having won a gold medal at the Second ALBA Sports Games in Caracas. The throw in Fortaleza was the third best of his career.

Martinez best all time throw was 87.17 meters in Paris and 86.09 in Bilbao, Spain, both in 2006.

Yudel Moreno, a silver medalist at the Cartegena Games finished seventh with a 74.69 throw. Three-time Pan American champion Emeterio Gonzalez abandoned the contest after two failed throws.

In the female javelin throwing event in Fortaleza, Cuban Sonia Bisset managed her best throw of the year (60.11) to place second behind Kim Kreiner of the United States (64.19), the winner of the Santo Domingo 2003 Pan American Games. Brazilian Alessandra Resende (58.70) finished third.

Cubas Misleidis Gonzalez finished third in the shot put with 18.41 meters behind Cleopatra Borel-Brown of Trinidad (18.67) and Nadine Leinert of Germany (18.55). Yumileidi Cuma, Atenas 2004 Olympic Champion, finished fifth with 17.82 meters.

In other recent track and field events in Brazil, hammer thrower Yipsi Moreno and discus hurler Yania Ferrales won in the Grand Prix competitions at Uberlandia and Rio de Janeiro on May 6 and 13.

The tour of the Cuban track and field athletes concludes Sunday with the International Association of Athletics Federations Grand Prize event in Belem.

Source: Granma