Cuban Sports Delegation Departs for Veracruz

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 12 (acn) A part of Cuban delegation, made up by 352 athletes, will depart today to the host nation with the mission to fight for the first position of the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico .

The large group represents most of the 543 competitors of the Caribbean nation that will compete from November 14 to 30 in 34 of the 46 sports convened, and they will join to the 130 compatriots who are already training in Mexico, the digital publishing Jit referred.

Athletes of handball, canoeing, baseball, cycling, fencing, synchronized swimming, swimming, taekwondo, shooting, triathlon, volleyball, gymnastics, field hockey and softball will travel in the two planned flights.
The sports medicine specialists , referees and judges, officers of the Cuban delegation, and print press that will cover the event are also included in this journey.

Tomás Herrera, director of international relations at the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, said that Cuban sportspeople opt for 329 titles from the 434 sets of medals in contention in the towns of Veracruz, Xalapa, Tuxpan, Cordoba and Coatzacoalcos.

With the third largest delegation, surpassed only by the hosts (713) and Venezuela (546), Cuba will attempt to win for tenth consecutive time in the history of these events, c hain woven since Panama City in 1970 , not counting the absences in San Salvador 2002 and Mayagüez 2010.

The Cuban delegation, consisting of 232 women and 311 men, will have representation from all provinces of the country and the special municipality of the Isle of Youth, with an average age of 24.7 years and a sophomore school level.

85 percent of them will debut in this type of competition, including 49 minors, so only 76 athletes repeat of previous editions.

According to several press dispatches of the host country, the open ceremony will be on November 14th at Luis Pirata Fuentes soccer stadium and Cuba's standard bearer shall be the greco-roman wrestler Mijail Lopez, double Olympic and five times world champion .

Under the slogan "Vuela Veracruz", the gala can be seen by some 30,000 spectators and will be attended by over 1 600 artists on stage, show that will essentially address on Mexican indigenous roots and the theme song will be "El Mar" (The Sea).