Havana, September 3 (RHC)-- The III Youth Olympic Games of Buenos Aires 2018, scheduled from October 6th to the 18th, will receive a Cuban delegation made up of 19 athletes taking part in seven sports.  The announcement was made at a meeting in Havana with officials of the Cuban sports institute, INDER.

Julián Morales, methodologist of High Performance sports, confirmed the number of participants 24 hours after the end of the final registration period for the contest.  He explained that the decrease in Cuban athletes is due to various causes, including participation during the years coinciding with the Central American and Caribbean Games, which demands a high volume of available resources.

The specialist also explained that most of the athletes are from countries in Europe and Asia, which increases the costs of participation.  This time, as it happened in boxing and shooting, it was impossible to attend tournaments hosted by the United States, whose embassy in Havana does not carry out visa procedures.

The Obelisk of the Argentinean capital will host the opening of a meeting that should gather 3,998 contestants between 14 and 18 years old, representing 206 countries.  Some 241 medal titles will be disputed in 32 sports, four more than in the previous version of Nanjing 2014, with the inclusion of sports dancing, skateboarding, climbing and speed skating on wheels.