Surprising meeting between Diaz-Canel and the president of the Peruvian Olympic Committee

Photo: Idranoticias

Text: Cuba News 360 Newsroom

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel received the president of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, Renzo Manyari, and the top leader of the Pan American Judo Confederation, Carlos Zegarra, shortly before the Peruvian officials returned to Lima.

Although the meeting was a surprise in Havana, it was very well received by the International Judo Federation, which highlighted Zegarra’s visit to the Palace of the Revolution on its official website this Sunday.

Zegarra is vice-president of the IJF, directed by the Romanian Marius Vizer, who has established very close contacts on the island. Tributes were not lacking for former judoka Zegarra, who symbolically received the 7th Dan degree from former Cuban stars Onix Cortés, world bronze medalist from Chelyabinsk 2014, and Yalennis Castillo, Olympic silver medalist from Beijing 2008.

Currently, one of the best judo coaches in Cuba, Justo Noda, works in Lima but on his own, leading the Peruvian national teams. Not a few expected that Noda, given the decline of Cuban judo, would rejoin the “Cerro Pelado” gym after his visit to Mexico hired by the IJF entity that also led to his arrival in Lima, according to the Cuban.

Díaz-Canel shared with the visitors experiences on the development of sports in Cuba and the possibility of strengthening cooperation ties. The exchange took place at a time when the sport is causing a lot of discomfort among Cubans and it is also assumed among the political authorities due to poor international results and the increase in the exodus of Olympic and world medalists.

The most recent case has been the Athletics World Cup in which for the first time Cuba said goodbye without medals with 14 athletes, an event exacerbated by the desertion in the United States of a distinguished figure of its athletics such as the Olympic bronze discus thrower Yaimé Pérez, world champion and her country’s flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics.

Upon her return to Havana, the national commissioner, Yipsi Moreno, suddenly left office one day after a triumphant television interview and in which at no time did she show signs of presumed resignation.

At the World Cup in Eugene, Oregon, Peru achieved an unprecedented performance by finishing in seventh place by country, with the two gold medals in sports walking achieved by Kimberly García, the first medals for Peru in its history of world championships, after countless hardships due to lack of support. It must be remembered that in Peru there is no EIDE or ESPA or full-time concentrations in Pan American Stadiums subsidized by the taxpayer.

The meeting with Díaz-Canel was attended by sports leaders Osvaldo Vento, president of INDER, and Roberto León Richard, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee. Speaking to the press, Renzo Manyari said that the visit to the Caribbean nation is intended to give continuity to the collaboration agreement signed between the two National Olympic Committees during the I Pan American Youth Games in Cali 2021. The Peruvian leader fulfilled a program of activities which included conversations with the highest authorities of Cuban sports and visits to institutions in the sector, where he learned about the development of high performance and grassroots work.