Por John Vila Acosta 
Basketball players Luis Alfredo Curtis and Loisel Martínez, members of the Guerreros de Matanzas in the national competition, were just one step away from being proclaimed champions in the 2023 Superior League as reinforcements for Capitalinos, who dominates the grand final of the contest (2 -0) against Halcones de Santiago de Cuba.
Both players, also members of the national team that represented the largest of the Antilles in the recently concluded Alba Games, expressed their satisfaction at belonging to a historical group in these conflicts and finding themselves in an unbeatable position to win the highest award, elusive for teams from Matanzas, which accumulate as best results the subtitles of 2006 and 2017.
In statements via WhatsApp Curtis confessed to feeling very motivated by the recent events in his sports career, the possibility of defending the four-letter uniform first and currently the opportunity to be crowned with an extremely competitive cast such as the so-called Capital Train.
“Here I mostly play a role as a change player and the level of points scored (approximately 10 per game) is not up to what I usually sign with Matanzas, but I feel good, there is cohesion in the team and I am practically sure that we are going to win ”, commented the MVP of the Basketball All-Star Game on the Island in 2022.
The 26-year-old forward said that all the effort he makes is done in order to win a position in the upcoming national pre-selection, from which the team will come out for the nearby Central American and Caribbean Games, in San Salvador.
According to the criteria of experts consulted and the review of the existing bibliography on the Internet, Curtis and Martínez would join the historic Allen Jemmott as the only national champions from Matanzas under this competition structure, after La Máquina did it in 2015, also with Capitalinos depending on reinforcement. (ALH)
Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon