Ciego de Ávila will be represented by five athletes at the First Youth Pan American Games, which will have their official opening on Thursday 25 at the Pascual Guerrero stadium, the flagship facility of the Colombian city of Cali.

The representatives of that territory will be the wrestler Jeisser Sampson Sánchez, the boxer Ronnis Álvarez Noa, the handball player Andro César González Ruiz, the sailor Yaimara Martínez Cervantes, and the swimmer Máikol Rabí Correa.

In that small retinue, it stands out that Sampson and Ronnis are the captains of their respective groups and are considered by specialists to get medals, with both possibilities of being gold.

Last June, Sampson Sánchez ratified the quality of this sport in Ciego de Ávila, by winning the gold medal in the 130 kilograms (kg) division - which brings together the contenders with the highest body weight in classical wrestling - during the celebration of the Pan-American Youth Wrestling Championship.

Held in the Mexican city of Oaxtepec, the fight brought other satisfactions to Ciego de Ávila: in four fights, his opponents could not score any technical points, and his work was of such magnitude that, at the end of the round, he received the Golden Boot that is conferred to the most valuable athlete.

A month later, Álvarez Noa performance was no less relevant in Guadalajara, a Mexican city that hosted the qualifying fight of the boxers heading to Cali 2021. There, the 17-year-old boy won the title in the 91 kg division.

Yunior Sosa Naranjo, one of the best wrestling referees in Cuba, will be in the hemispheric fight to deliver justice, as well as the sports federation members Joel Pérez Crespo and Jorge Sosa Ferrer.

Omar Venegas Echemendía, also from Ciego de Ávila, and current vice president of INDER, serves as deputy chief of the mission of the Greater Antilles at the main Colombian site of this regional event.