Jose Joaquin Puello, president of the Organizing Committee of the Pan American Games is optimistic the Dominican Republic could become a regional training center for the Americas once the Pan Am Games are over. ?In a short period of time, we will become a regional training center of the Americas in at least six sports, given the quality of the installations,? he said. He admitted that more modest installations could have been built for the games, or that temporary locations could have found, but expects that the use for regional training centers will be more beneficial to the country.
In an interview with El Caribe newspaper, he highlighted: ?What will happen is that these installations will be maintained by the international federations and will become a source of revenues for the country,? he said.
The Dominican Republic has a poor track record maintaining sports installation. But Puello is optimistic the new venues will be preserved. ?I think that if we knew how to build them, we will know how to manage them also,? he said. He mentioned the construction in two months of the rowing and canoeing facility in Rinc?n Dam Lake, and that it had been rated as one of the three best facilities in the Americas.