Argentina will be sending a record delegation of 419 athletes.
By DIEGO MARTIN MELAMEDPeres meets with Maccabiah games chair Peled 370(photo credit: Courtesy)
Argentinean soccer stars Lionel Messi and Sergio “Kun” Aguero sent their greetings to the Argentinean Maccabiah delegation ahead of next week’s Games in Israel.“Very good luck to all the team that will participate in the games in Israel,” said Messi in a prerecorded video, aired last week in a ceremony held at the Hacoaj Sport Club and Jewish Center.Argentina will be sending a record delegation of 419 athletes.Among them, 190 haven’t been in Israel before and 250 will participate in the Maccabiah for the first time.It was announced at the event that Waldo Wolff, DAIA (the local Jewish political umbrella) Vice President and also the goalkeeper of the +35 soccer team will carry the national flag in the opening ceremony.“My father participated in the 1953 Macabbiah as a swimmer.In a few days I will enter with my son. It is very exciting to me as a sportsman but also as a Jewish leader,” Wolff told The Jerusalem Post.The current captain of the Argentinean Davis Cup tennis team, Martin Jaite, who is Jewish, also participated in the sendoff event.He handed over the Israeli flag to the tennis player Gustavo Galer, who will carry the Jewish state’s flag within the Argentinean team at next Thursday’s Opening Ceremony at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.In other news, President Shimon Peres visited Kfar HaMaccabiah, where he met with Maccabiah Chairman, Amir Peled, who officially invited him to the Games’ Opening Ceremony, which will take place on July 18th.Among the spectators who witnessed President Peres’s visit were many American athletes who arrived In Israel this week to train and prepare. Many of the delegations are expected to arrive in Israel over the weekend.
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