KAZAN, April 16. /TASS/. Venezuela plans to send as many as 45 national athletes to this summer’s 2024 BRICS Games in Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, a senior Venezuelan sports official said on Tuesday.
"Our delegation plans to compete in nine sports disciplines," Venezuela’s Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Pablo Alfonso Yustiz Araujo stated ahead of a meeting between the heads of delegations participating in the upcoming BRICS Games.
"We are planning to send a delegation of between 40 and 45 athletes," the Venezuelan sports official added.
The 2024 BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Games will be held in Kazan on June 12-23 and will feature events in 25 different sports.
In mid-May 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to submit proposals for organizing and holding the 2024 BRICS Games in Russia.
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin emphasized later that the BRICS Games are not meant to rival any other competitions and will not interfere with the international sports calendar as well as with the IOC-approved calendar of events.
Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid an official visit to China, where he stated that the 2024 BRICS Games and the following World Friendship Games in Russia would be organized based on the principles enshrined by International Olympic Committee (IOC) Charter.