'Sadness and helplessness': Alejandro Char facing loss of the Pan American venue

The 2027 Pan American Games will not be held in Colombia. Panama Sportsorganizer of the Games, notified this Thursday, February 1, on its official website that the candidate venues will only be Lima and Asunción.

Faced with this, Mayor Alejandro Char spoke out on social media, expressing “sadness and helplessness” after explaining that Barranquilla did everything possible and “earned the opportunity.”

(Read here: Pan American Games: Colombia's dream is over, Panam Sports confirms candidates).

“In our previous exercises, like the Central American Games, we showed that we could. We regret that Panam Sports has not listened to the cry of Colombians and, especially, our athletes.“said the mayor in the published video.

It is important to remember that Panam Sports, made an official statement regarding the fate of the headquarters this Thursday, February 1, in the afternoon. Through a statement, the organizer explains that only Peru and Paraguay delivered the documents requested for the application.

“These are Lima, Peru, and Asunción, Paraguay, which before January 31 officially delivered all the requirements requested by Panam Sportsto enter the race to be the host city and country (…) to determine the next host city, the Executive Committee of Panam Sports has organized an Extraordinary General Assembly to be held on March 12,” the statement says.

Regarding this, this newspaper confirmed that the meeting that President Petro announced in his speech on January 9 with Neven Ilic, president of the organization, never took place, since there was no formal request either.

That day, in which he confirmed that Colombia would make an advance in seeking to return the venue of the Games, President Gustavo Petro said that he would take advantage of the trip to Davos, Switzerland, to attend a new edition of the World Economic Forum summit and , dal return, meet in Chile with Ilic and the president of that country, Gabriel Boric.

However, as it became known, Panam Sports did know about the president's proposal.but they never received a formal request.

(Also: Pan American Games: Panam Sports' letter to the President for non-compliance).

The two candidates to win the Pan American Games

Panam Sports will have to choose between Lima or Asunción to host the 2027 Pan American Games. As revealed in a statement, the cities “met all the requirements and made official their interest in hosting the continent's largest multi-sports event.”

Ilic said they were “very happy” about the nomination of the capitals of Peru and Paraguay.

LATEST NEWS EDITORIAL*With information from SPORTS.

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