Inder-press

Havana, February 16 (JIT).- Cuba will host 204 sports events in 2023, between national and international, which are estimated to gather more than 50 thousand participants, as announced by Inder during the monthly meeting with the sports press.

Omar Venegas Echemendía, vice president of Inder, confirmed those figures and advanced other details related to the 62nd National Baseball Series, which will begin on March 22 at the Mártires de Barbados stadium in Bayamo, with the game between Granma and Matanzas.

"The first stage of the Series will be until June 3 and we will resume the play offs after the first week of July," he detailed about one of the most followed events every season and that will make a forced stop due to the participation in the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023.

"To make up the calendar we made a tour of all the provinces, to touch in each territory the issue of financial assurance and the conditions of the facilities and accommodation," explained Venegas, who recalled that the schedule reflects the competitive part and the programs of physical culture, recreation and teaching.

The announced calendar includes national championships, some of which have been underway since January, such as the chess championships. There are also international tournaments and tournaments by age, such as the Pioneer, school and youth games.

Of these, which form the base of the pyramid of high performance sports, it was indicated that as is traditional they will have a first moment in April and continuity in July.

The director explained that one of the most complicated issues in the current context of the Island is the transportation of the participants in each competition. 

He also explained that for that reason the national soccer tournament will not start this weekend and neither will the women's version of the superior basketball league.

Venegas confirmed that Havana is heavily involved in most of the scheduled events. It will even have to take on competitions usually organized in other provinces.

At the same time, he urged the sports sector to take advantage of the prestige of Cuban athletes and coaches to attract training bases to the island. He cited as an example the stop that a Russian baseball team will experience here in March, which will then be presented at the V Alba Games, in April in Venezuela.

As an important moment, he pointed out the possibility of Cuba organizing a weightlifting grand prix in Havana or Varadero. "That will be a world-class event, with more than 400 participants from 60 countries," he said.

Regarding the new models of economic management, in line with the updating the country is undergoing, Venegas spoke of the Latin American Stadium becoming a budgeted unit with special treatment, which will be experimental for a year to assess its feasibility, with a view to extending the experience to other facilities in the country.

Also present at the meeting were Agustín Abril, director of sports programming and organization of Inder, and Faustino Heredia, president of the National Commission of Referees and Judges, who offered other details of the calendar.

Abril ratified that transportation is key to what is to be achieved and assured that the plan is based on the continuity of the events executed in 2022, with similarities in terms of the number of competitions and dates.

Faustino referred to several events planned for the first months of the year. Among them, he mentioned the national championships and some international competitions, such as the Ibero-American triathlon that will take place the last weekend of February in Havana.

The continuity of other phases of the national beach volleyball circuit, the Aurelio Janet Memorial in athletics, the Giraldilla in badminton and the Varadero 2023 Half Marathon were among the events highlighted at the meeting.