The president of the Pan American Weightlifting Federation, José Quiñones inaugurated an International Gymnasium of the discipline at the University of Cuban Sports ‘Manuel Fajardo’ which offers great possibilities of cooperation.
Several authorities of the entities and organizations in charge of the rehabilitation of the building, located in the university, together with members of the national preselection of that sport, participated this Sunday in the opening of the educational space.
The educational facility was built thanks to the efforts of the authorities of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, the local Federation, the Ministry of Higher Education and other Cuban and foreign institutions, according to Cuban authorities.
Quiñones commented to Prensa Latina on the impact that the teaching classroom will have, both for Cuba’s weightlifting pre-selection, its teachers and coaches, as well as for the athletes of the region and the world.
He said that in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games weightlifting gave the clarion call, because “for the first time we surpassed the powerful Europe”, and that for the summer event in Paris, France, in 2024, they expect a comforting performance of Latin American athletes.
The high continental federation added that in 2023 the athletes of the continent showed their projection in the championship of the sport held in Havana, the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, and the recent Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile.
According to the owner, the gymnasium, which bears the name of the founding father of weightlifting in Cuba, Marcelino del Frade, will be used to host a World Academy for the area, which will also be attended by weightlifters from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
Quiñones, who is also the vice president of the International Federation of the discipline, explained that he came to Cuba to celebrate the opening of this institution, to participate in the X International Convention of Physical Activity and Sports, and to pay tribute to the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, on the seventh anniversary of his physical disappearance (November 25).
