María Belén Aguirre: "More than 70 million for High Performance"

On the occasion of the first workshop for the preparation and programming of the Single National Sports Calendar 2022, which is based at the University of Azuay, the Vice Minister of Sports, María Belén Aguirre (34 years old), was present, who announced the steps given by this government entity, in support of national athletes. 

According to Aguirre, the working days in this event include the participation of Ecuadorian, provincial federations, provincial sports associations, cantonal leagues, student sports and other organizations of the branch. 

According to the authority of this entity, next Thursday the general calendar of events will be defined, which will include all disciplines, to improve annual planning. 

- How will this new method serve to plan the competition? 

It is the first time that sport meets at the High Performance, formative and student level. The goal is to have a clear picture for the different players in the sport. There will be three consecutive days of work and workshops. The final product of this meeting will be known on Thursday, February 10, in which all the sporting events that the country will have in 2022 will be detailed. 

- Regarding High Performance, how is the delivery of incentives to athletes progressing? 

The High Performance plan started last month. Precisely on January 31, the process to transfer resources began, not only to sports organizations, but also to athletes who belong to Plan; even pending payments for the 2021 season will be covered. The resource was published and a process must be followed to make the transfers. 

We have a budget allocated for the Olympic Cycle, which is around 70 million dollars. 

-When will the list of athletes that make up the PAR be made public? 

The list is already worked. We plan to publish in the coming days, on the official channels of the Ministry of Sport, the names of the athletes who make up the different categories of the High Performance Plan, for the period 2022-2025, 429 athletes will be served. 

-Azuay has several athletes in the national teams, is it considered giving more resources to the province? 

This province has stood out for several years for its sporting level. We measure the results of the provincial federations, once the number of athletes who go to national teams is known and how many of them obtain outstanding results. 

The budget ceilings have already been defined. The transfers will be made once the sports organizations present the Annual Operating Plan and the Annual Sports Plan; Until what I know, the Sports Federation of Azuay has not sent this documentation. 

-How is the management progressing to put the CEAR into operation? 

there are Training Centers for High Performance that are still in liquidation with CEAR EP and that has prevented the normal operation of these infrastructures, a specific case in Cuenca. The situation is different in the CEAR of Río Verde (Esmeraldas). In the latter, agreements have been made to open the doors to athletes. We are going to visit some venues in this city to speed up the procedures and make them available to athletes again. Due to agenda issues we will only be in the city for one day.