CONSUDE Meeting on May 12 Will Decide the Future of 2020 South American School Games in Brazil

Representatives of the 13 countries that make up the South American Sport Council (CONSUDE) met this Wednesday morning, 22nd April, by video-conference, to discuss the future of the 2020 edition of the South American School Games in the face of difficulties imposed by the new coronavirus pandemic.

Ministers of Sport, secretaries and sports leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Suriname and Guyana participated in the meeting. In the end, it was decided that a new virtual meeting will be held on May 12, when there will be a more concrete scenario to define whether or not to hold the South American School Games, scheduled to be played in Brazil, in December.

Brazil was represented at the meeting by Marcelo Magalhães, Special Secretary for Sport at the Ministry of Citizenship; André Alves, special assistant secretary of the Special Sports Secretariat; Fabiola Molina, national secretary for Sport, Education, Leisure and Social Inclusion (SNELIS) of the Special Secretariat for Sport; and Robson Aguiar, vice president of the Brazilian School Sports Confederation (CBDE).

Under the coordination of Paraguay, which currently holds the presidency of CONSUDE, the videoconference allowed the representatives of each country to detail the measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil stressed that it hopes to be able to host the South American Games in December. “This meeting is important to learn more about the situation in each of the countries involved in the South American School Games and to understand the real possibilities for Brazil to host the competition in December, as planned,” said Marcelo Magalhães.

“If the Games can be played in December, it is a sign that the issue of the virus will be controlled in our country,” said André Alves. “But it is a very complicated situation for all countries. The decision for a new meeting on May 12 is correct, because, until then, we must have a clearer scenario for decision making ”, he continued. In the event that it is not possible to take place in December, at the meeting this Wednesday, the possibility that the South American School Games will be played in April 2021 was raised. It’s a situation being faced by casinos such as casinoza casino too, though at least they can still operate virtually.

One of the important points discussed in the videoconference was the synergy that national sports ministries and secretariats have developed with the federal governments in the adoption of emergency health measures and support to the sports community, in addition to creating conditions for monitoring citizenship, through actions to promote physical activities at home, avoiding crowds.

Calendar

In December 2019, the South American School Games were held in Asunción, Paraguay. At the end of the competition, Brazil received the CONSUDE flag and made a commitment to host the edition of the event in 2020.

On February 18 of this year, during the CONSUDE assembly, held in Salinas, Ecuador, Brazil announced the city of Fortaleza as a possible venue for the 2020 South American School Games. Brasília is also an alternative. The initial expectation was to receive around 1,500 athletes, aged between 12 and 14 years old, to compete in 11 sports.

However, the new coronavirus pandemic has altered the sports calendar across the planet, with many turning to online casino like bestunitedstatescasinos. Among other competitions, the health crisis forced the postponement of even the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which ended up being transferred to July 2021.

The main dilemma faced by CONSUDE refers to the scenario of uncertainty that all countries still face in relation to the coronavirus, since, at this moment, it is impossible to escalate when the COVID-19 pandemic will be resolved.

Another point that appears as an obstacle to the holding of the South American School Games this year is that the regional and national qualifying stages for the continental event had to be canceled in several countries.

In Brazil, for example, the regional stages, which were to be played in September, were canceled by the Olympic Committee of Brazil (COB), the competition organizer. In June, the COB will decide whether or not it will be possible to hold the national stage of the Youth School Games, initially planned for November.

Even so, even if it is possible to compete in the national stage, it will have the ten individual modalities initially planned, but, exceptionally, the collective sports (futsal, volleyball, basketball and handball) and the new modalities that were planned to integrate the program (taekwondo and artistic gymnastics) should not be performed.