El Salvador hopes to finish the Games prep on time despite storm damage

The more than 35 National Olympic Committees that in eight months will be competing in the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador received with satisfaction the definitive version of the official program of the mega-event and the important classification manuals.

The organizers have also remodeled the facilities that will host the competitions, prior to the bad weather that hit Central America

Salvadorans are currently facing, like the entire region, the disastrous effects of torrential rains, strong winds and floods caused by a tropical storm. In San Salvador, until early Monday morning, only minor damage caused by fallen trees was reported according to local press reports.

The authorities have focused their efforts on preserving human lives and on evacuations. Despite these attacks, which will continue to test the will of the organizers, it is expected that the sports venues will be completed on time.

The XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games will have its opening on June 23, 2023, while the closing is scheduled for July 8.

San Salvador will host the competitions of 32 sports disciplines, which will open with weightlifting, speed skating and indoor volleyball, on June 23, 2023.

The Dominican Republic will host seven disciplines: canoeing, equestrian, modern pentathlon, racquetball, field hockey, taekwondo and clay pigeon shooting.

The last sports to open its calendar will be road cycling, open water, trampoline gymnastics, karate and triathlon, which will begin on July 5.

The president of Centro Caribe Sports, the Dominican Luis Mejía Oviedo, also a member of the International Olympic Committee, expressed to Around The Rings his satisfaction with the announcement of the completion of the Sports Program and the Classification System Manual that should be available this week. held by all the Olympic Committees in the region.

Mejía Oviedo praised the work of the COSSAN 2023 Organizing Committee headed by the president of the Sports Institute of El Salvador, Yamil Bukele.

The Dominican official recognized the close connection in this technical process between CCS and COSSAN and assured that, unlike previous multidisciplinary competitions, events will not be suspended at the last minute due to lack of the minimum number of registered countries.

“I have no concern with the Games,” commented Mejía, who also confirmed that security “because of the support of the President of the Republic (Nayib Bukele)”.

“The Games are going to be a source of pride for Central America and the Caribbean,” said the president of CCS, an organization that will hold its first Beach Games in the Colombian city of Santa Marta next November.

According to the Classification Systems Manual, 14 sports disciplines in San Salvador will grant tickets to the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile within a year, in sports shooting, artistic swimming, open water, water polo, sailing, bowling, archery, athletics, handball, baseball, mountain biking, equestrian, hockey 5 and triathlon.

So far, the visit of 34 international technical delegates has been received in San Salvador to review the sports venues that will host the 43 different tests, a plan that has included the different CCS commissions.

San Salvador remained the only venue for the Games with less than two years to go, after Panama abruptly resigned in the summer of 2020. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, the other emerging candidate, declined its aspiration in May 2021, due to the uncertainty with funding.