Las Tunas experienced a massive sports festival this Wednesday in the areas surrounding the Major General Vicente García Revolution Plaza and the Leonardo McKenzie Grant multisports hall, as the conclusion of the central activities for the 40th anniversary of Physical Culture and Sports Day, celebrated for the first time in this province.
Las Tunas, Cuba.– Several thousand teenagers and youngsters from the provincial capital participated in the Toma Deportiva Siempre Joven Sports, Recreational, and Cultural Festival, which offered 67 activities in as many locations. Simultaneously, similar festivals were held in the other seven municipalities.
The day began with the Maracuba race, which started at the Vicente García González memorial and covered three thousand meters to the main square.
The president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation (INDER), Osvaldo Vento Montiller, presented a special recognition to the sector's leadership in Las Tunas and told the press: “You have had to wait 40 years, but it was worth it. What joy, a contagious atmosphere! We could say that the objectives were met, but expectations were exceeded.
“First of all, you demonstrated once again to the world the potential of sport, the mobilizing power of sport. It was a prevailing atmosphere of joy and triumph.”
Previously, on Tuesday the 18th, at the Vicente García González Memorial Museum, the ceremony was held to award the Order of Sporting Merit and the Martyrs of Barbados Medal to 47 workers in the sector, as well as the Rafael María de Mendive Distinction to those who have remained in the system uninterruptedly for more than 20 and 25 years. The event was dedicated to the Centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
The First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in the province, Osbel Lorenzo Rodríguez, congratulated the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) and the people of Las Tunas for being chosen as the national headquarters and emphasized during his closing remarks: “I believe we have accomplished what we dreamed of on May Day, when we envisioned the activities that would take place here, we envisioned it unfolding this way. Therefore, we have achieved what we set out to do.”
“Congratulations to everyone and recognition to the people who are the true champions of this day. And it has been an extraordinary day,” he affirmed.
The event was the culmination of a comprehensive program that included the renovation of 26 sports facilities in various municipalities, as well as a tour of the INDER flag through the eight municipalities, recreational festivals, and a cultural gala.
