Havana.- At 85 Days before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the 118th of the Paralympic competition, sports authorities confirmed today that the Cuban delegation is motivated and committed to face the multi-sport events.
“We are in the final stretch. On April 15, we held an important meeting in Paris to pre-register the delegation. There, a group of topics were reviewed regarding the estimate of our delegation and how far we can go in the number of classifieds. We were able to confirm that both the villa and the event facilities are ready,” highlighted Inder’s general director of high performance, José Antonio Miranda Carreras.
As stated, final registrations will be made on July 12 and the athletes are expected to enter on the 18th.
Miranda Carreras also expressed that the recent visit to the Games headquarters served to review the critical route that is planned for the Cuban athletes who will represent us in the French city.
“In that sense, we must be grateful for the opportunity that the Cuba Cooperation France project gives us to guarantee that we arrive 15 days in advance at the competition headquarters and for the training bases that they have provided, as well as our embassy in France.” , he expressed.
The Antillean Olympic preselection was reduced to 134 exponents (from 14 provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud) in 27 sports and their average age is 26 years, of which 73 have participated in the Olympic Games previously.
There are 40 preselected Paralympic competitors (from 13 territories), who work in 10 sports. Their average age is 31 years and 13 have previous experience.
So far, Cuba has 36 qualifiers in 11 Olympic sports. There are 58 men and women with a chance to qualify in 11 sports.
For the event under the three agitos, the number of qualifiers in five sports remains at 11 and around twenty are immersed in qualifying processes, also in five sports.
«We aspire to include within the delegation between 70 and 90 athletes, in the case of the Olympics and between 28 and 31 for the Paralympians. A group of sports such as boxing and wrestling have not completed their classifications and athletics and judo remain, which is by ranking,” said the Cuban manager.
Compliance with the designed critical path will be essential in the classification processes. For this reason, daily efforts are made to guarantee the necessary conditions for the training of each team with the possibility of achieving a place.
«The preparation has been personalized, looking for the best options both in Cuba and abroad. This has been done throughout the year, especially for the benefit of sports that are more committed to results,” said Miranda Carreras.
«We are entering a crucial stage and the smallest detail cannot be neglected. Motivation and commitment to meeting the goals set are observed in the athletes. “I think we are capable of remaining among the top 20 countries in the Olympic medal table and among the top 25 places in the Paralympics,” he commented.
BOXING, FIGHTING AND SHOOTING AT THE AVANT-GARDE
The contribution of boxing, wrestling and shooting will be decisive to fulfill the purposes of the Cuban delegation in Paris, as recognized by the main federations of these sports.
Cuba currently has four athletes classified in boxing: Alejandro Claro in 51 kilograms, Saidel Orta in 57, Arlen López in 80 and Julio César la Cruz in 92, all with great commitment and possibilities of reaching the podium of the Parisian fight.
But the so-called Flagship of Cuban Sports wants to increase the number of its crew.
With that objective, he will arrive with a team to the last qualifier of the sport, which will be in Thailand from May 24 to June 2. Due to its relevance, a wide participation of fighters from all over the world is expected in this tournament.
Three men and one woman will represent the Island in said event, which will award four spots per division in each sex. Yaquelin Stornell, Frank Arzola, Erislandi Álvarez and Jorge Cuéllar will be the Antilleans who will travel to Thai soil.
«Everyone has a great chance of qualifying because they have prepared very well for that objective. We plan to bring a complete team to Paris and achieve the feat that, for the first time, a Cuban woman boxer competes in the Olympic Games,” highlighted Alberto Puig de la Barca, head of the Cuban Boxing Federation. To date, compliance with boxing’s critical path has been guaranteed.
Those who will fight in Thailand leave on the 12th for a training base in that country, where they will compete with fighters from a dozen countries, seeking each one’s competitive form.
Then there will be the Playa Girón based in Guantánamo from May 21 to 26. Arlen and Julio César will have professional fights and starting June 15 the team will leave for training bases in Europe.
«The mission is to return with medals. Motivation, commitment, quality and responsibility are enough to aspire to a good result in Paris. The crew is fine and they will not make us look bad,” said Puig.
The 10 places achieved until today are not enough for the Cuban struggle. For this reason, in the coming days, they will be looking for three more tickets to the City of Light.
«We have options to conquer one more quota in the Greco and two in the women’s fight through Daniel Gregorich in 87 kg, Laura Herin in 53 kg and Yainelis Sanz in 57 kg. The setting will be a qualifying event in Istanbul, Türkiy, to be held from May 6 to 9,” announced Martín Torres Peguero, commissioner of this sport.
As explained by the manager, those classified have intensified their preparation with training bases in China, the Dominican Republic and Varadero.
«Starting on the 10th of this month, the Greeks will head to Croatia, then they will travel to Hungary for the series ranking and finish the journey in Bulgaria. The girls will attend the grand prix from Spain and the free rider leaves in May for Russia, to a training base prior to his participation in the Spanish competition. Our maximum is to qualify 13 fighters, although the forecast was 10 or 12,” declared Torres Peguero.
Arnaldo Rodríguez, shooting commissioner, recalled the exploits of the Cuban shooters in managing to classify four athletes after the disappointments suffered at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
«For the Pan American sports championship in Argentina we trained with all the conditions. The goal was to get eight shooters into finals. This was done and it was possible to win three tickets, which were added to that of Leuris Pupo and the three Paralympic quotas,” said the federation.
«The preparatory route was first drawn up with Pupo and has been completed with the support of Inder. The trio of shooters joined that plan. They are all now immersed in the world cup in Baku, which has a high level, and will later leave for Munich for another world cup event, ending at a training base in Granada, Spain. The fundamental objective of the team is to enter the finals,” he commented.
For Cuban shooting, the main hopes will fall on the double Olympic medalist from Holguin, who in his last performances has shot for an average of 584 points. If he maintains that level, there is hope that he can climb an Olympic podium for the third time in his career.
