Alhadis Bandera, national commissioner of the sport, told ACN that Iriarte will be the only Cuban representative in that continental competition, and added they hope him to participate in other strong contests prior the Olympics.

Yoandry´s training could include a training base yet to be defined; the idea is him to have several competitions internationally to get in good sportsmanlike manner to Rio de Janeiro, said the manager.

Iriarte got the ticket for the summer event through the silver medal he won in the Americas qualifying tournament hosted by San Jose, Costa Rica, last April, in a competition attended by 15 contestants.

He reached the Olympic qualifying tournament in the 137th seat of the world ranking, with only six points, hence it has been a pleasant surprise the good performance he had in Costa Rican soil, where Cuba competed with five other athletes.

With this result, the Caribbean nation will return to the Olympics in fencing; after foil fencer Misleidis Compañy and saber fencer Maylin Gonzalez were the last participants at that level in Beijing 2008.

Epee fencer Ivan Trebejo, silver medalist at Atlanta 1996, and the men's epee team, which finished third in Sydney in 2000, were the last medals won by Cuba in such scenarios.

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