CARTAGENA, Colombia July 17 (PL).— Cuba’s athletes gave outstanding performances in canoeing and other sports, enough to displace Mexico from the top of the 20th Central American and Caribbean Games, Cartagena 2006, which are going into their third day today.

Cuba’s canoeists and kayakers won five of the six titles disputed yesterday, the first day of competitions in that discipline, while the sixth went to Mexico.

Luruaco Lake in Barranquilla was the location of the first multiple medal-winner in this regional competition, after Cuban Maikel Zulueta won three in the specialties of kayaking, which are actually the first he has won on the international level to date.

That took the Cuban delegation into the lead, with two more gold medals in weightlifting on Saturday.

José Antonio Guerra began that trend with his excellent performance in the three-meter springboard diving, in which Yoslaydis Herrera captured the silver in the one-meter event.

In shooting, Laina Pérez won the free rifle event, but her performance was not matched in the team event, after she and her teammates finished in second place.

In fencing, Zuleidys Ortiz beat her performance in Maracaibo ’98, where she won a bronze medal; this time, she took first place in the individual category, the only title at the start of fencing competitions.

Yordanis Borrero won two gold medals in the 69-kilo weightlifting division in snatch, but gave way in clean and jerk to Venezuelan Eduardo Hernan and had to resign himself to taking the silver.

In team sports, Cuba’s celebrated baseball team debuted successfully, beating Guatemala 7-1, while the women’s basketball team easily triumphed over Puerto Rico, 90-44.

For their part, the softball players were also victorious against the Puerto Ricans, 7-0.