(ATR) The eyes of the weightlifting world will be on Cali, Colombia next week.
The Colombian city to the southwest of the capital Bogotá will host from May 10 to 16 the South American and Ibero-American Championship and the Open Qualifier for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
But the celebration of these events is being threatened by a climate of insecurity after violent riots in the city.
Organized by the Colombian Federation and endorsed by the Pan American Weightlifting Federation, the contest had been postponed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Many organizers of pre-Olympic events have decided to face the challenges of the ongoing health crisis, as is the case in Colombia, always with the authorization of health experts.
Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) with the Pan American Championship and Tashkent (Uzbekistan) with the Asian Championship received praise from the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) for successfully organizing tournaments that featured weightlifting records and the application of health protocols.
Cali will be the last opportunity to confirm Olympic places that will be awarded directly to weightlifters in both genders in the Open tournament.
Three delegations are already training in Cali: Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela.
Around 200 athletes from various continents are expected. In addition to the South American nations, the United States, Canada, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Belarus, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Marshall Islands, Sweden, Albania, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Panama have confirmed.
The organizers hope that normality will be restored in the city after the protests on Monday tied to a national strike. Operations at the Cali international airport resumed Tuesday, and commercial flights began to be re-established.
The president of the Colombian Federation, William Peña, informed Around the Ringsthat among the established sanitary protocols are the requirement of negative tests for Covid-19 that in the case of foreigners must be issued a maximum of 72 hours before their arrival.
Likewise, PCR tests will be carried out before the sports delegations return to their countries.
The competition will be held in a "bubble" mode, which means that the selected hotels will only host personnel involved with the tournaments and not tourists. There will be a specific transport for each delegation, regardless of the number of competitors in each team.
"With the current requirements facing the epidemiological situation, the investments for skills are great," said Peña.
In the competition stage there will be no access to the public and the capacity allowed by the health authorities will be about 50 people, a number that includes the athletes, their companions, judges, medical personnel and the award ceremony, announcer, and technical controller.
The press will follow the competition on Facebook Live and YouTube, with the press conferences on the Zoom platform.
Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez
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