After its premiere in Havana in 2004, the Games of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of America (ALBA) celebrated three other editions, but after the one in Barquisimeto 2011, the ones scheduled for Quito in 2013 and Cochabamba 2015 were not held.

12 years have passed in which political instability marked several countries in the region and now it’s that the multi-sports event will be resumed, this time with a strong emphasis on the younger generations and with the peculiatiry that athletes from Russia will participate.

In the case of Cuba, for this occasion a delegation made up of around 265 athletes in 22 of the 35 sports is expected, which in itself almost ensures that it will not lead the general medal table as in previous editions of the competition.

The event should really work, above all, as a training event for younger athletes, especially in a year in which training plans must be readjusted to comply with all the multi-sport events, which include the Central Caribbean Games in San Salvador and the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile.

In short, these V ALBA Games will take place from April 21^stto 29^th, distributed in three states of Venezuela, and Cuba must provide a lot of color in this competition that has a lot of symbolism beyond sports.

As previously announced, sports like weightlifting will send the best we have right now, and also in athletics, wrestling, and swimming, just to mention a few categories, several of the best Cuban representatives will be more than welcomed.

However, I believe that most of the expectations in Cuba , due to its novelty and importance from a historical point of view, will be the incursion of six Cubans into the boxing tournament.

It will be the official debut of our women in boxing at an international event, and we will see if this first batch, which came out not in the best way from a methodological viewpoint, can bring us joy in the immediate future.

In the long term, I do believe that women will raise the name of Cuba like men have done, but this Olympic cycle seems a bit improvised due to the delay in approval of women's boxing and the short preparation time for athletes who did not start their sports careers in this contact sport.

After this tournament that will with venue in La Guaira, "we will put our feet on the ground" with respect to what this sport can contribute to the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, the first step to reach the top.

Without the glamor of other events of its type, the ALBA Games are very necessary and it would be very useful if they remained steady on the calendar.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff