Thursday in Jimani, Dominican Republic, Abel Nazaire, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic Action, participated in the opening ceremony of the "Sports Festival of the Border 2016" alongside Dominican President Danilo Medina , the sports minister Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal and several senior officials of the neighboring Republic. This sports festival will gather from 21 to 24 July over 1,300 young athletes from both countries (more than 200 Haitian).

The opening ceremony was attended by several hundred athletes from both countries, of coaches, sports leaders, parents and sports enthusiast. The opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the virtues of sport and the importance of the festival for the promotion of Peace, of brotherhood and solidarity between the Haitian and Dominican peoples.

Transmitting the greetings of de facto President Jocelerme Privert and people of Haiti to President Danilo Medina, the Minister Nazaire praised the vision of the latter who understood the need to set up this sports exchange program between young Haitians and Dominicans of border areas emphasizing "Haiti and the Dominican Republic are two brother countries sharing the same land. [...] Sport is an essential vector of Peace. A Peace to build, strengthen, protect, promote."

This sports festival will see compete young athletes in disciplines as varied as: baseball, basketball, football, handball, volleyball, taekwondo, boxing, judo, athletics, weightlifting and wushu (Chinese version more modern of martial arts).

The 200 young Haitian athletes from Ouanaminthe, Belladères, Ganthier, Tilori and Anse-à-Pitre, supervised by Haitian and Cuban technicians, will face the Dominicans in : athletics, basketball, boxing, handball, judo, taekwondo and volleyball.

See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-18073-icihaiti-sports-more-than-1-300-haitian-and-dominican-athletes-to-the-festival-deportivo-de-la-frontera-2016.html

BF/ HaitiLibre