In a ceremony presided over by Deputy Governor Alejandro Palmieri and with the presence of authorities from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Province, they inaugurated the Viedma headquarters belonging to the national Patagonian event.
In this sense, the Vice Governor affirmed that “all the Games that take place in our region are cause for celebration but I believe that this 2021 edition of the Araucanía has a special flavor because it leaves behind almost two dark years in which we could not meet and where athletes could not play and compete ”.
He also added that “sport made its way in the face of adversity, athletes are the ones we want to empower from the provinces with state policies that allow them to grow with values of good behavior, among other things.”
Finally, he concluded by thanking those present and saying that “from the Government of Río Negro we welcome all cyclists and judocas, we hope they have an excellent stay and achieve the best results.”
On the other hand, Minister Vélez said that “this event arises as an alternative promoted by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports before the rest of the Patagonian provinces” and added, addressing athletes “I hope they take advantage of these moments to cultivate camaraderie and solidarity, these moments are unique, take the opportunity to enjoy them ”.
The Games will take place until this Sunday with competitions spread throughout the territory of Patagonia. In the case of Río Negro, it will be the judo and cycling delegations from Tierra del Fuego, La Pampa, Santa Cruz, Chubut and Neuquén, in addition to the local ones, which will be measured in Viedma until Friday.
The competition venues of the Rio Negro venue will be the Ángel Cayetano Arias sports center for judo and the Ciudad de Viedma Autodrome, the provincial route No. 1 and the coastal avenue for cycling starting this Tuesday.
In total, there are 132 young people who have the provincial capital as a game scene: 72 for judo and 60 for cycling, not counting the delegates and coaches.
On the other hand, the rest of the disciplines are divided between Chubut (basketball and soccer), Santa Cruz (swimming), Tierra del Fuego (volleyball) and Neuquén (athletics and handball). All competitions, with the exception of soccer and basketball, started this Monday.
It should be noted that this edition is a national modality of the historic Binational Games of Araucanía, since due to the covid-19 pandemic the Chilean delegations chose to be absent.
However, if we take into account the 27-year history of this contest, Río Negro stands by a wide margin as the most winning province with 13 consecrations, the last of these being in 2019, prior to the start of the pandemic, and ranking it as defending champion.
