Cuban athletes ready for Rio de Janerio Olympics

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 2 (acn) The successful progress of the preparation of Cuban athletes to the 31 st Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was highlighted by executives of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER by its Spanish acronym).

Jose Antonio Miranda, head of INDER High Performance, told the Round Table TV program that everything goes as planned, and there are already 58 Cuban athletes qualified in nine sport disciplines to the Brazilian event , scheduled for August 5 to 21.
He recalled that the last one to get the ticket was the men's volleyball team, which joined to the eight sports already secured: athletics, shooting, boxing, rowing, pentathlon, wrestling, canoeing and artistic gymnastics, although several of them and others are in position to increase their contributions.
Miranda also refers that currently there are 252 athletes from 21 sports still fighting for their berths, with an average age of 25 years and college sophomore, representing all provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
He noted that right now there are 132 athletes in 20 sports with chance of qualifying, with the closing date in June for a group of disciplines .
Badminton, boxing, fencing, cycling, artistic gymnastics, pentathlon, rowing, taekwondo and beach volleyball will fight for their tickets on March, while table tennis will do it on April .
Meanwhile, the Olympics qualifiers of canoeing, judo, wrestling, archery and triathlon will be on May and those of athletics, women's basketball, weightlifting, diving and swimming will take place in June.
Jorge Pavel Pino, director of the Sports Medicine Institute , highlighted the good physical and psychological state of athletes, who have everything they need to successfully meet the training and competitions, and added they are attended by 149 professionals.
He said that all Cubans will arrive in Rio de Janeiro with three or four drug tests and that all sanitary measures in sports facilities were already taken to prevent disease, as well as the exit or entry to the country.
Cuba accumulates 208 medals in Olympics, 72 gold, 67 silver and 9 bronze, all collected in 19 appearances.
In London 2012, Cuban athletes finished fifteenth with five gold, three silver and six bronze medals.