The Dominican Republic continues to aspire to win the right to host the year 2003 Pan American Sports Games, the most important regional sports championships. The D.R. is competing with Mexico, Chile and Colombia, that also hope to be favored with the majority vote of the Americas. Dr. Jose Joaquin Puello, president of the Dominican Olympic Committee, will travel to Mexico next week to deposit the official Dominican request to host the event during the assembly of the Pan-American Sports Organization. Dr. Puello will travel with Minister of Sports Juan Marichal and Minister of Public Works engineer, Diandino Peña. Puello is counting on 25 votes, more than closest rival, Mexico. A total of 46 nations vote. While most countries have only a single vote, countries that have already hosted the Pan American Games have two votes. These are Argentina, Mexico, the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and Brazil. He said the D.R. has the support of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. In 1994, the D.R. lost the right to host the Pan Am Games by only one vote, which was won by Winnipeg, Canada. These Games will take place in 1999.
