Havana/This Monday, Cuba registered a delegation of 504 athletes from 42 disciplines who will compete in 356 of the 497 events called for the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games that will take place from July 24 to August 8 in the capital of the Dominican Republic.
The Cuban representation is going to the event in Santo Domingo with the aim of being among the first three places in the medal table by country, declared the high performance director of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), José Antonio Miranda, quoted by the state sports site Hit.
Registered athletes will compete in chess, diving, swimming, artistic swimming, water polo, athletics, badminton, basketball, handball, baseball, boxing, canoeing, road and track cycling, electronic sports, equestrian jumping, fencing, soccer, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline.
In addition, the rosters for field hockey, judo, karate, weightlifting, wrestling, speed and figure skating, pentathlon, racquetball, rowing, softball, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, shooting, archery, triathlon, sailing, volleyball and beach volleyball were made official.
The manager considered it possible for Cuban athletes to win some 70 medals in 19 disciplines
The manager considered it possible for Cuban athletes to win some 70 medals in 19 disciplines and a good number of places to participate in the Lima 2027 Pan American Games.
Likewise, he said that Cuban volleyball, judo, shooting, weightlifting and triathlon athletes already train in the Dominican Republic.
According to the forecast of the Island’s sports authorities, the first gold medal could come from women’s cycling, and other gold, silver or bronze medals will be provided by combat sports such as boxing, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, taekwondo and judo, and also from athletics, baseball and canoeing.
At the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador 2023, Cuba led a delegation of 494 athletes, ranked third by country -behind Mexico and Colombia-, with a total of 196 medals: 74 gold, 59 silver and 63 bronze.
However, the Island has lost prominence in Central America. The last time Cuba finished first in the regional competition was in 2014, in Veracruz. The last two editions, Barranquilla 2018 and San Salvador 2023, were won by Mexico, leaving the Island even in third place, which equaled its worst performance in the competition, similar to what was done in Panama 1938 and Kingston 1962.
