Santiago de Chile, October 26 (RHC) - The president of Panam Sports, Neven Ilic, confirmed on Thursday that after clearing some questions and receiving guarantees from the Ministry of Sports of Colombia and the Government of Barranquilla, in the closing ceremony of Santiago-2023 will be given to that Colombian city the flag to host the next event in 2027.

The hosting of the XX edition of the Games was threatened because the Colombians had not complied in time with some deadlines and economic requirements of Panam Sports and there was even talk that Paraguay was ready to replace Colombia.

"We are on track to have great games in Barranquilla-2027," Ilic told reporters when questioned on the subject Thursday at a press conference, which was also attended by three sports legends, Cubans Javier Sotomayor and Mijaín López, and Ukrainian Serguei Bubka.

The sports leader said that Colombia is a very important country in the development of sports in the region and that he is confident that it will hold good games in four years' time.

Panam Sports announced that other sports legends will be present at another press conference on Saturday: Americans Carl Lewis and Mike Powell, and Dominican Felix Sanchez.