Cuban basketball player Leydis Oquendo Valdes He died this Tuesday in El Salvador at the age of 40 as a result of a postoperative pulmonary thrombosis, derived from a surgical intervention to which he underwent to remove a fibroid, according to what he said Latin Press.
Native of the Florida municipality, in CamagueyOquendo had recently culminated as the leading scorer in the professional league of that Central American country, in which she was hired since 2017. She was a multi-champion with Santa Tecla BKB and FAS Fever, with whom she was crowned this year as national champion and scoring champion of the 2022 season.
Oquendo Valdés was a member of the national preselections for more than 16 years and participated in the world championships in Brazil 2006 and Turkey 2014. Among his most outstanding results with the Cuban squad stands out the sixth place obtained in the 2001 world youth competition.
He also won the Central American and Caribbean Games twice and the Centrobasquet tournament five times (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012).
Leydis had also harvested excellent results in the professional leagues of Argentina and the Dominican Republic, where she was hired.
In 2016 she played in the Argentine Super League, where she was chosen Best Foreign Player. She also played with the Águilas de Guachupita, in the National Women’s Basketball League of the Dominican Republic.
The sudden death of the outstanding Cuban basketball player has surprised and shocked family, friends and fans of the sport of hoops and baskets.
“We are dismayed by his physical disappearance, it is a serious blow to the Cuban basketball family and sports in general”said Dalia Henry, president of the Cuban Basketball Federation in statements to the aforementioned media outlet.
“The Cuban basketball family is very sad. Oquendo was a very charismatic athlete, dedicated and willing to give her best on the courts”, she added.
Your former teammate, Marlene Cepedawas shocked at Facebook for Leydis’s death, saying she was not prepared for “such a heavy blow.”
“I still remember when you hugged me crying when we lost that basketball center medal, when we spent hours talking, trying to fix the world. Sometimes life gives us such strong blows to end up realizing that being alive is a privilege, that Every day that we have the chance to give that loved one that hug, let’s not hesitate, gentlemen, because tomorrow may be too late,” Cepeda wrote.
“Wherever you are, always remember what you told me ‘baby, being strong is the only option left to us.’ his mantle”, Marlene Cepeda concluded her emotional text.
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