• Submitted by: admin
• Sports
• 07 / 01 / 2007

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The Cuban leader exchanged views with the athletes, conveyed greetings from President Fidel Castro and urged them to return victorious.

For his part, Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo ratified that the objective of the team is to keep the second place in the medal table by countries and increase the number of medals obtained so far in continental events (711).

He criticised the commercialization currently prevailing in sports, characterized by talent brain drain, and noted that Cuba does all the contrary, by sharing trainers with Third World nations.

The flag was presented to Olympic multimedalist Driulis Gonzalez (judo), who was escorted by Yuliesky Gourriel (baseball) and Guillermo Rigondeaux (boxing).

Gesler Viera (taekwondo) read the delegation" oath under the slogan: Ideas, Honor and Dignity.

The Cuban delegation groups 483 athletes with an average age of 23 years. They will compete in 27 of the 33 disciplines of the Games.

Source: Prensa Latina