Cuba knows how important it is to host international events, as well as rescuing the national competitive calendar in the different categories. Hence, despite the capricious scourge of Covid-19 and practically two years of impasse in which only the National Baseball Series took place, and some internal confrontations, such as the Playa Girón boxing match, Inder is trying to relaunch a very intense agenda at all levels in this 2022.
Especially when in sight, around 2023, both the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador and the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile are in sight, events for which the Greater Antilles will surely aspire to host the some qualifying tournament.
With a scenario in which the projection of events in a timely manner becomes somewhat more complex, and will surely be subject to the epidemiological situation that our country presents in the future regarding the coronavirus, the director of programming and sports organization of Inder, Agustín Abril revealed that a total of 732 competitions are expected to be developed in the next 12 months, with the inclusion in that number of competitions such as the military games and the Minint, the appointment for university students, and the one for workers (CTC), among others.
In this string of probability theory, the official told the sports weekly Jit that:
“We have designed a calendar based on the number of events in recent years. They include above all the national championships and a group of provincial and international competitions that serve to prepare our athletes.
Projection that perhaps can be expanded a little more, according to the possibilities offered by the Cubadeportes SA Company, ready to capture any activity that is economically feasible and serves to provide quality shows to our people.
You have to be objective. The organization of sporting events goes through issues that on many occasions exceed infrastructural and logistical variables, although they are the most important, fundamentally knowing the tense situation of economic hardship that our country is going through, and the not insignificant effects of the economic blockade imposed by the United States Government.
Emphasizing other contests that we will host in our territory, April avoided the 61 National Baseball Series; and the national boxing, wrestling, judo and athletics tournaments, as disciplines with the greatest thrust and which become central in the development of our sports movement, in addition to constituting the axis of our high performance pyramid.
Hence, the international prism also contemplates rescuing boxing matches, the International Granma-Cerro Pelado wrestling; a stop of the Judo Grand Prix; the Havana Triathlon, Marabana, some volleyball and others such as the Caribbean Table Tennis Championship”, said Abril, who also handled the option of hosting the modern Pentathlon norceca fair, as well as leaving a window of possibility ajar for the Villa de La Habana fencing; the badminton Giraldilla, and perhaps in the longer term a meeting of the Caribbean athletic circuit…
Implications and elements associated with being a host
For Cuba, whether in the current scenario, or even before the presence of Covid-19, hosting international events, in my opinion, is positive. The first thing is to provide our national team athletes with a level confrontation scenario at home, corresponding to the ceiling of the contest in question. Logically, this would considerably reduce costs with respect to attending similar tournaments outside the borders, in addition to enabling the registration and ability to measure the levels of a greater number of troops, even in lower categories in almost all cases.
We are talking about the fact that currently being able to enter our armies in international competitions has to be done with surgical precision. We are talking about longer and more expensive trips, due to the obligation to take other routes and stopovers; longer length of stay and higher costs in accordance with health protocols and medical examinations before, during and at the end of a fight X; cumbersome situations in many cases associated with visa issues.
A fresh example was the decision not to attend the Wrestling World Cup that took place in Oslo, Norway, between October 2-10, after allocating the largest volume of Inder’s annual budget to the preparation and presence in the Olympic Games. from Tokyo.
Yes, sometimes our sports movement, bridging the gap, moves its cash in the manner of the cockroach Martina with his peseta. Subterfuge to redirect capital based on well-defined priorities and other maneuvers are part of the Inder’s permanent puzzle.
All factors that consolidate the positive balance of acting as locals, in addition to the fact that economically being organizers of a prestigious competition, usually leaves some margin of profit, or money to continue developing the discipline in question or another more urgent one.
And here we do not turn our backs on the situation that our infrastructure of stadiums and possible venues are going through, with international quality standards to assume the organization of an X event. Only Havana, and few exceptions in facilities located in headwaters of other provinces essentially have such requirements; issue on which it is urgent to work, in addition to shortcomings.
The core of not losing sight of the foundations of the pyramid
If at the elite level the question of the development of athletes, and the diapason that grants the fact of being hosts of contests of various kinds is important, imagine this same scenario in the child, school, and youth categories, which pay directly to the high performance and function as the foundation of our sports pyramid. Regarding this issue, Abril remarked to Jit that:
“The main Cuban sporting event has been and will continue to be the national school games, which begin in April with the pioneer cups. We have not carried them out for two years and we must rescue them once and for all with all the guarantees. This interruption is going to have a severe impact on our sport and we must stop it now, for which it is necessary to keep the pandemic at bay.”
He specified in such a way that “In April we must start with the pioneer cups, then we will have the youth games, in June, and in July the school date. Those competitions are being prepared with all efforts. It is urgent to save as much as possible of these generations hit by covid-19. We are sure that with the efficiency of our athletes and coaches, and with all the effort of the organization in logistics, we will be able to offer quality events”.
Work, a word of order, contemplating every possible incidence factor, making punctual and precise calculations, the most transcendental, controlling the Covid-19 pandemic and establishing the necessary health protocols… but, without losing the perspective of organizing events, expanding and provide another development scenario for our athletes.
