Before passing through Asia, the route of Russian athletes could make a detour through South America. The agency TASS reports that Venezuela has formally invited Russia to send a delegation of athletes to the next edition of the ALBA Games, scheduled for 21-29 April 2023 in Caracas. The invitation was extended by the Venezuelan Minister of People’s Power for Youth and Sports, Mervin Maldonado, to the Russian Minister of Sports, Oleg Matytsin. “I am sure that the ALBA Games with the participation of Russia will give a new impetus to the dynamic development of sports cooperation between our countries,” said Oleg Matytsin after his meeting with his South American counterpart, adding that he had in return invited Venezuelan athletes to participate in competitions in Russia. The ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) Games will be held this year for the fifth time. The program includes 35 disciplines, with an expected participation of 3,500 athletes representing 11 countries (including Russia). The alliance created in 2004 by Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro has ten countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Venezuela.
