Rio 2016: Number of athletes to represent Cuba increases to 110

The number of Cuban athletes set to participate in the Rio Olympics has risen to 110 in 17 disciplines, said the National Institution for Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) on Monday in Havana.

Inder's vice president, Jorge Polo, said 80 are men and 30 are women. The athletes are mainly concentrated in athletics with 31 participants, followed by boxing and wrestling - both with 10, judo with nine, rowing and shooting with seven and canoeing with six competitors.

Polo highlighted that the Caribbean nation could obtain more places in the upcoming qualifying events for diving, swimming, athletics and women's beach volleyball.

Cuba's hopes for these Olympics is to improve on the results obtained in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 and to appear among the top 20 delegations in the general medals table.

In the Chinese capital eight years ago, Cuba competed with a delegation of 165 athletes in 16 sports and they finished in 28th place overall with 24 medals, including two gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze.

In London, Cuba participated with 110 athletes in 14 sports and managed to progress to 17th place overall with 14 medals (five gold, three silver and six bronze).

The Olympic Games in Rio will take place from August 5 to 21 and the organizers expect almost 12,000 athletes from 206 delegations to participate in the 306 competitions grouped into 28 sports.

Inder president Antonio Becali said "we are going (to Rio 2016) in better conditions than four years ago." Endit