ANA DEL CID BETZABÉ QUINTERO

While some of the tourists visit Panama for its natural beauty, some visit it for sports. Panama sports include basketball, baseball, football, boxing and many more.

In Panama, baseball’s heritage dates back to the late 19 th Century with the arrival of North Americans working to construct the Panama Canal. This is the time when baseball became a popular sport in Panama. The growth of baseball in Panama brought about the development of Panamanian players in Major League Baseball. The most famous player being Rod Carew, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Panama has always taken immense interest in football and has always kept their performance bar very high in American sporting sphere. The Panama football teams with their dedicated endeavors have made their mark in the field of national and international sports. The Panama National Football team includes the best club footballers in Panama.

Boxing is undoubtedly the sports discipline where Panama has achieved most victories, joy, satisfaction and champions and, therefore, boxers, together with baseball players, are the most popular athletes for the people of Panama. It should be noted that the first world champion born in Latin America was from Panama, for which Panamanian boxing deserves the historic credit, as well as one of the most outstanding and influential boxers at the end of the 20th century, a pugilist considered to be an inspiration for sporting figures such as Mike Tyson and who is considered nowadays amongst the 10 best boxers of all times

Special Olympics is a global organization that serves more than 3.4 million athletes with intellectual disabilities working with hundreds of thousands of volunteers and coaches each year. Since the establishment of Special Olympics in 1968, the number of people with and without intellectual disabilities who are involved with the organization has been growing, but the unmet need to reach more people with intellectual disabilities is staggering