Peruvian Olympic Committee Confirms New President

(ATR) The election of Pedro del Rosario as the 26th president of the Peruvian Olympic Committee is a positive sign that the country is on the right track with its sporting responsibilities.

Rosario was confirmed by the COP on June 28 at the NOC headquarters in Videna, San Luis with 16 votes in favor, three against and one abstention.

Rosario says his job now begins to restore the reputation of the NOC.

"Starting today, the COP stops regressing," he said in a statement. "We will work very hard to right the ship and return it to the place it should be."

Although former PanamSports secretary general Jimena Saldaña would not comment to Around the Rings on the outcome of the General Assembly, it is presumed that the election of new leadership sends a message of calm to both the International Olympic Committee and PanamSports.

"Happy for having a good GA with good spirit," Saldaña tells ATR, reiterating her observer status for the IOC and PanamSports.

Rosario is joined on the COP Executive Board by Napoleón Valdez as vice president, Carlos Manuel Lazarte as secretary general, Gustavo Cárdenas Brou as pro secretary general, José Carlos Spihlmann Enders as Treasurer and Jorge Barrera Zegarra as Pro Treasurer.

Carlos Eduardo Tabini and Jenny Martínez Díaz are also members while Gonzalo Castillo, Mariana Quintanilla, José Francisco Espinoza and Eduardo Canales Piana are supplemental members. Francisco Dibos Boza is also on the executive committee as athlete representative.

The new leadership is now tasked with preparations for the Sept. 13-17 IOC Session in Lima where the IOC will likely elect the host cities of both the Summer 2024 and Summer 2028 Olympics. Once the Session is complete, the COP will turn its attention towards assisting the Lima 2019 Pan American Games Organizing Committee with its projects which are currently behind schedule.

ATR understands that if construction on major projects such as the Pan American Athletes Village doesn’t begin in September, PanamSports may have to analyze its options.

Rosario says he looks forward to the challenges and is confident in his ability to get the organization back on track.

"It is an honor to have been elected by overwhelming majority as president of the Peruvian Olympic Committee," he said in his first statements as COP president. "It is an honor and a commitment that I assume for the national sport.

"I know that it will be a challenge to move forward from the state in which it is and to return it to the level and prestige that the COP has always had and that should never have lost."

Rosario and his new executive board begin operations on July 4.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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