South American Youth Games Postponed to 2022

(ATR) Add the South American Youth Games in Rosario, Argentina to the wave of postponements of sporting events in the Americas due to the current Covid-19 crisis,

The Games, originally scheduled from March 19 to 28, 2021, will now run from April 28 to May 8, 2022.

The decision was adopted on Wednesday by the South American Sports Organization (ODESUR), which for several weeks has been closely monitoring, together with the Argentine authorities, the possibility that the pandemic could force a delay.

According to an official statement, ODESUR accepted a request for postponement from the organizers due to the critical situation amid rising infections.

Today, during a videoconference, the president of ODESUR, the Paraguayan Camilo Pérez López-Moreira and the Mayor of Rosario, Pablo Javkin, ratified the postponement of the Games.

Weeks ago ODESUR was forced to move its main event, the South American Games in Asunción, to between October 1 and 15, 2022, helping to create what will probably go down as the one of the "most loaded" sports calendars in history.

"Our priority is to celebrate the South American Youth Games in Rosario in a safe environment for all participants, so we consider appropriate the request of the organizers to postpone the event," said the president of ODESUR.

"Rosario already has us used to organizing memorable, sustainable sports competitions with a wide legacy. We are sure that the III South American Youth Games will mark a before and after in this kind of events," addedPérez López-Moreira, who is also an IOC member.

The videoconference was also attended by the vice president of ODESUR and general secretary of the Argentine Olympic Committee, Mario Moccia, and the general secretary of ODESUR and president of the Chilean Olympic Committee, Miguel Angel Mujica.

The sports authorities of the region trust the ability of Rosario to preserve the success of their Games despite the change of date. Hopefully by then there would already be a vaccine against the cruel disease, according to the latest scientific announcements.

Already in 2019 Rosario demonstrated its passion for sports with the organization of the South American Beach Games.

Around the Rings learned that a successful celebration of the 2022 Games could convince Panam Sports to choose that Argentine city as the venue for its inaugural Pan American Youth Games, a project that is still pending given the uncertain times.

According to some sources, a Mexican city could also aspire to that venue.

The First Junior Pan American Games, for athletes between 18 and 23 years old, will be in Cali, Colombia, from September 9 to 19, 2021, after also suffering a date change.

The first edition of the South American Youth Games was held in Lima in September 2013. The second version was held in Santiago, Chile in 2017.

Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez

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