By IANS/EFE,
San Juan : Ana Santos and Adrian Rodriguez of Spain won first prize at the 2011 Puerto Rico Salsa Congress, considered to be the most important international salsa competition, for the third time after winning in 2007 and 2008, organisers said Sunday.
Coming in in second place were Carine Morais and Rafael Barros of Brazil.
Third place went to Kelvin Hernandez and Licellot Maldonado of Puerto Rico.
The judging panel for the couples competition was made up of Tamara Livolsi, Jorge Santana, Dicky Colon and Vanessa Millan of Puerto Rico, Sandra Ferreira of Argentina and Eli Torres of the US.
The 2011 world salsa champions pocketed a $5,000 prize, the runners-up received $3,000 and the third place couple received $2,000.
In the groups competition, the Venezuelan members of the Casino Stars took first place, while second place went to the Argentine group Karamba and third place was taken by the Venezuelan-Puerto Rican group Veneboricua.
In the group category, the panel of judges consisted of Tito Ortos of Puerto Rico, Nora Meneses of Colombia and Sandra Ferreira of Argentina.
This year’s Puerto Rico Salsa Congress was the 14th edition of the competition, welcomed contestants from more than 30 countries and closed with performances by Andy Montanez and Roberto Roena.