NEW YORK. After 15 uninterrupted days of competition, the Juan Pablo Duarte NY 2025 Games closed with a spectacular closing ceremony under the slogan “Sport and art walk together to strengthen our Dominican identity”. The event became a true cultural celebration, full of colors, folkloric expressions and a luxurious musical closing starring Fernando Villalona and El Rubio del Acordeón, on a stage imbued with symbols of Dominican culture.
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After nearly 2,300 athletes paraded, received their awards, and danced to the rhythm of the contagious music of Fernandito Villalona and El Rubio del Acordeón, Plaza Quisqueya, in the heart of Inwood, Upper Manhattan, was taken over by thousands of Dominicans who gave a warm farewell to the games.
The Olympic flame went out and was handed over to Manhattan, a New York sector, where the largest number of Dominicans currently reside in the Big Apple, which will host the edition in 2026.
The handover was staged by the Minister of Sports and Recreation of the Dominican Republic, Kelvin Cruz, who handed over the flag of the sports movement to the directors of the Dominican Sports Union NY, headed by Evarito Madrigal.
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Then it was time for speeches and congratulations for the organizers, especially Minister Kelvin Cruz, who valued the success of the games with the little time the Dominican leaders of New York had to prepare them.
“It wasn’t an easy task, but they did an incredible job. They managed to carry out a task that wasn’t easy, and the best fans also delivered,” said Cruz referring to the good response of the Dominican diaspora public to attend the competitions.
“They were the largest Dominican games in history abroad, with 21 disciplines. The grand sporting event brought together 2,300 athletes from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, where hundreds of medals were awarded,” Cruz emphasized.
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These first Juan Pablo Duarte Games organized in New York, made the local public interested for the first time in sports, such as Fubkey, until now unknown to Dominicans, who practically only consume to cite some, baseball, basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball.
The overall final score did not throw up any surprises and Manhattan was the big winner with 214 points, 139 were scored by the male athletes and 75 by the women.
However, The Bronx, did not stay far from Manhattan, accumulating 206, the males achieved 134 and the females 72, to finish in Second place.
New Jersey was the big surprise of the Games with 188 points, the male athletes gave the Garden State 110 and the females contributed 78, for the important third place in the table of places.
Queens County accumulated 81 points for fourth place, with male athletes earning 55 points and women contributing 26.
Brooklyn finished in fifth place, with 78 points, the male athletes scored 46 and the female athletes, 32.
