Brazil sports minister replaced before Games

Ricardo Leyser will take over on an interim basis, Brazil president Dilma Rousseff said in a statement on Wednesday.

Published : Mar 31, 2016 17:56 IST , Brasilia

Brazil sports minister George Hilton
Brazil sports minister George Hilton
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Brazil sports minister George Hilton

Brazil sports minister George Hilton has been replaced just over four months before the Rio Olympics.

Ricardo Leyser will take over on an interim basis, Brazil president Dilma Rousseff said in a statement on Wednesday.

Leyser, 45, has worked in the sports ministry since 2003 – the year it was created. The opening ceremony of the Rio Games will be held on August 5 and the nation's preparations continue to be questioned.

Brazil has unveiled “Operation Air”, a plan to attend to the nearly 1.5 million air passengers expected to arrive for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in August.

The plan, which covers 39 airports, led by Rio’s two airports and others within a 200—km radius of the Olympic Village, also extends to the Paralympic Games that will follow in September, reports Xinhua.

Officials estimate the nation’s airports will see the arrival of some 90,000 passengers and up to 1,000 planes a day, including commercial and charter flights, especially for the opening and closing ceremonies.

The 1.5 million passengers include delegations of athletes from around 200 countries and regions, 100 heads of state and 32,000 journalists. Special ramps and other facilities will be available for some 4,000 paralympic athletes.

“At the infrastructure level, Rio de Janeiro is very well prepared and equipped to attend to air transport during the Olympic Games,” the deputy minister of the Presidency’s Aviation Secretariat, Guilherme Ramalho, told reporters on Monday.

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