By Duanys Hernández Torres
Havana:- Osvaldo Vento Montiller, president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) of Cuba, received Hadrammeh M. Sidibeh, the Youth and Sport Minister of the Republic of the Gambia, who completed a working visit to the Caribbean nation.
During his visit, Sidibeh toured centers within the Cuban sports system, including the Anti-Doping Laboratory, the Information Resource Center for Cuban Sports (CRIDC) and the Cuban Sports Research Center (CIDC). He visited the Manuel Fajardo University of Physical Culture and Sport Sciences (UCCFD) and the high-performance training Schools of high-performance athletes like Cerro Pelado and Giraldo Córdoba Cardín.
“It is admirable how they promote health and have achieved so many figures in sport with international results. No one can deny the results that Cuba has,” Sport Minister Sidibeh said in a dialogue with the head of the Cuban Sport body.
The Gambian Sport Minister hailed the desire to hold exchanges between the Gambia and the Caribbean nation. “We want to have collaboration with the Cuban Sport sector because 60% of our population comprise young people and require our greatest attention. Cuba and her Sport are examples for young people around the world,” he said.
Sidibeh requested technical assistance in sport for athletes in the Gambia and for basketball and soccer enthusiasts, as well as medical personnel to attend to various disciplines. Sidibeh explained that come January, they will open the first University for Sport and Gambians who graduate from Cuba will be professors at the center.
Vento Montiller demonstrated the willingness of Cuba to help Gambia’s Sport sector with trained personnel, as well as the possibility of offering bases for training; that Gambian athletes will be invited to participate in Sport events that take place in Cuba.
Montiller threw an invitation on his counterpart to participate in the VIII International Convention of Physical Activity and Sports (AFIDE) to be held in Havana next November.
Roberto León Richards, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee (COC) and Her Excellency Mrs. Kujejatou Manneh, the Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Gambia in Cuba, also participated in the talks.
