HAVANA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Cuban Institute of Sports and Recreation (INDER) on Thursday announced its intention to win this year's 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, and keep Cuba's first place spot among competing nations.
"We will go there with the intention to maintain the first place we have held since Panama City 1970, and we must be very efficient to achieve that," said INDER president Antonio Becali at a press conference.
"The team has to earn around 115 gold medals to keep its position as number one and that's what we're aiming for," he said.
"Mexico will be the main rival, as it has been historically. Additionally, Colombia's position of host will make them strong and they have advanced the most in recent years," he added.
According to the official, Cuba will have a team of 789 people at the event in Colombia. Of those, 538 are athletes and 133 are coaches.
Becali said that Cuba will participate in 359 of the 450 events. With the team's average age of just 23, the institute will also be looking ahead to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The competition, which will take place in Barranquilla and other Colombian cities between July 19 and August 3, will be important for the build up and preparation to other international competitions, including the Pan American Games 2019 in Peru, he said.
The INDER president reported his institute had carried out analyses on each event in order to study Cuba's overall competitiveness.
He also stated that all Cuban athletes with professional contracts abroad will participate in the event, with the exception of Alfredo Despaigne and Livan Moinelo, both baseball players in the Japanese league.
In addition, he said the sports that will contribute most medals for the island will be judo, taekwondo, boxing, wrestling, athletics, rowing, canoeing, table tennis, badminton and shooting.
He said during the last year Cuban athletes had made solid preparations for the games, especially at international events, and mentioned that INDER has invested heavily in equipment.
The Central American and Caribbean Games is held every four years and is the region's most important sports competition. It always falls a year before the larger Pan American Games, which is due to be held in Lima, Peru in 2019.
