José Ramón Pelier

Havana, April 25 (RHC) - Canoeist José Ramón Pelier raised to 36 the number of Cuban athletes qualified for the Paris Olympic Games.

A native of the eastern province of Guantánamo (east end of the island), Pelier widely dominated the C1 1000m final on Wednesday at the Continental Canoeing Pre-Olympic in Sarasota, United States, and sealed his ticket to the French capital. .

With his victory, the number of Cubans with places for the Olympic competition reached 36 in 11 disciplines, 22 men and 14 women.

Those classified belong to the sports of wrestling (10), athletics (6), boxing (4), shooting (4), canoeing (3), taekwondo (2), rowing (2), table tennis (2), cycling (1), weightlifting (1) and modern pentathlon (1).

Cuba, which pre-registered 139 athletes in 18 disciplines for Paris, still has qualification options in sports such as wrestling, boxing, canoeing, judo, athletics, volleyball, beach volleyball and diving.

José Antonio Miranda, director of High Performance at INDER, confirmed during the delegation's pre-registration that Cuba aspires to be among the top 20 Olympic powers in the Paris Games, scheduled for July 26 to August 11.

The sports leader considered that the island should be represented in Paris by at least 70 athletes and that they continue working with 18 sports.