Las Justas
Intercollegiate sports competition held annually in Puerto Rico / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Justas de Atletismo y Festival Deportivo de Puerto Rico (English: Puerto Rico Athletic Games and Sports Festival) —better known as Las Justas Intercolegiales[1] (English: The Intercollegiate Games) or simply as Las Justas (English: The Games)— is an intercollegiate sports competition held annually in Puerto Rico where Puerto Rican colleges and universities compete against each other in different sports.[2][3] The event is sponsored by the Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria de Puerto Rico (LAI). The event usually include competitions in softball, basketball, beach volleyball, judo, table tennis, swimming, cheerleading, women's football, and athletics.[4]
Formerly | Justas Intercolegiales[1] |
---|---|
Conference | FISU |
Founded | 1929 |
Commissioner | José Enrique Arrarás[2] |
Sports fielded |
|
No. of teams | 21 |
Headquarters | Ponce, Puerto Rico |
Region | Puerto Rico and U.S.V.I. |
The sporting event is supplemented by artistic presentations every evening after athletic events have come to an end.[5] The athletics portion of the events is attended by some 20,000 spectators, while the cultural events receive upwards of 150,000 guests.[6]
For many years the event was held in San Juan, but in 1993 it was moved to the city of Ponce, where - except for 2010 and 2016 – it has been held since. The week-long event takes place during the month of April.[7] Due to the 2020 Puerto Rico earthquakes in the Ponce area, the 2020 edition of the Justas was moved from Ponce and were scheduled to take place in Mayagüez from 23 to 25 April at the Jose Antonio Figueroa Freyle Stadium.[8] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria (LAI) announced on 15 March 2020, that the event was being suspended and that a new future date would be sought.[9] Given the island-wide COVID-19 curfew and lockdown ordered by the Government of Puerto Rico subsequent to the 15 March LAI suspension decision date, on 13 April 2020 the LAI announced the event could not be held and canceled it for the remainder of the 2020 season.[10] The 2021 version of the event was also cancelled due to the pandemic.[11][12] The 2022 season is scheduled for 1-7 May 2022.[13]