Cuba will face the Central American and Caribbean Games with at least 416 athletes from 26 disciplines with the aim of being among the first three countries in the medal table, official media reported Thursday.
At a press conference, José Antonio Miranda, general director of high performance at the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), said that the island hopes that the final list of qualifiers to represent the country in the fair will have about 500 competitors.
Likewise, he affirmed that sports in which tickets are obtained through ranking, as in the case of athletics and swimming, still need to be closed.
"On April 23, the long list of registrants will close, that is, the numerical one. We are working fast on that process."declared Miranda, quoted by the official media Jit.
Miranda pointed out that Mexico starts as the favorite to take first place on the podium of the competition that will be held from June 23 to July 8 in San Salvador (El Salvador) and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
With more than 3,000 medals, 1,752 gold, Cuba is in the first historical place of the contest, followed by Mexico and Venezuela.
Miranda also announced that, so far, the island has 126 qualifiers in 17 sports for the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile next October.
The general director of high performance of Inder clarified that the delegation to the Chilean capital must oscillate between 250 and 280 athletes.