On Friday, the 2023 Sports Games of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) kick off in Venezuela, which will host about 3,500 athletes from 11 countries.
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Athletes from Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Antigua & Barbuda, and Grenada have arrived to participate in this event, which will run until April 29 in sporting facilities in Miranda, La Guaira, and Caracas.
Sportspeople from Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Saint Kitts & Nevis, and Saint Lucia will also participate in the games, to which 48 Russian athletes were invited as special guests thanks to an agreement signed by Russia and Venezuela in October 2021.
“Our athletes will compete under the national flag for the first time since the start of the West’s aggressive campaign to cancel our country’s sports,” Russian Ambassador to Venezuela Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov stressed.
Bolivia and Venezuela are currently holding bilateral talks in Caracas. Topics include energy, investment, health, and culture. pic.twitter.com/sefgIkHfoZ
— Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews)
April 21, 2023
Most world sports committees banned Russia from participating in international games following the start of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022.
The International Olympic Committee has recommended that Russian athletes should be allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Games, but only in individual sports.
In the 2023 ALBA games, Russian athletes will compete in table tennis, boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, weightlifting, and beach volleyball.
“It is a great honor for us to welcome Russia at the ALBA Games,” said Ninosca Klasier, chairman of the Venezuelan Sports Institute.
Founded in 2004 by Presidents Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) and Fidel Castro (Cuba), the ALBA began organizing games in 2005, when about 2,000 athletes from 18 Latin American countries competed in Havana. The games’ last edition was held in Venezuela in 2011.
Venezuelan aid and rescue teams arrive in Syria to support efforts to assist the victims of the massive Earthquake that hit the region. It is the first aid coming from Latin America (part 1) #Venezuela #solidarity #syriaearthquake #TurkeySyriaEarthquake pic.twitter.com/cok8CfClqW
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)
February 8, 2023
