MURCIA. The San Antonio de Murcia Catholic University (UCAM) has returned to dominate the Spanish University Championships and has completed a decade of hegemony in this competition that in 2021 has been marked by the coronavirus pandemic, which has disrupted the program, and closes its contest with 28 medals, 14 of them gold, six silver and eight bronze.
In an edition with fewer tests than usual, the UCAM has sent and Since the 2011/2012 academic year, he has not dropped from the top of the medal table.
In the edition in 2019, before the appearance of the covid, the Murcian educational institution broke all records with 141 medals -86 golds, 40 silvers and 15 bronzes- of the more than 750 that were at stake. This year only 176 have been contested and UCAM has prevailed ahead of the University of Alicante, who has won 12 -five golds, three silvers and four bronzes- and of the Alfonso X of Madrid, which has taken seven – five gold, one silver and one bronze.
With the absence of such representative sports as athletics, swimming, taekwondo or karate, in which more than half of the metals from previous editions were already distributed, UCAM became strong in practices such as tennis, in the one that the students trained by Jose Antonio Arranz champions were proclaimed in all modalities and they added six gold medals.
The medals in individual sports continued to arrive with five medals in judo (one gold, two silver and two bronzes), four in fencing (one gold, one silver and two bronzes), three in paddle tennis (two golds and one bronze) and two in triathlon (two silvers). Athletes of the stature of judoka Evadne Huecas, the olympian in fencing Carlos Llavador and the paddle tennis players Javier González Barahona and Jose Garcia Right-handed champions were proclaimed.
As for team sports, UCAM achieved eight medals out of ten possible. La Católica began this harvest with the gold medal for the men’s soccer team. Two of his players were awarded individually, Alvaro Martinez as the top scorer of the tournament and Christopher Aegean as goalkeeper less thrashed. In volleyball, UCAM dominated the championship with gold medals from both the men’s and women’s teams. The women’s basketball team was also proclaimed champion and the men’s team took silver after a final with extra time included. In futsal both teams took bronze and in handball the women’s team also obtained metal with the third position.
It is expected that CEU 2022 once again have all the usual sports disciplines and UCAM, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the institution, will not only try to break all records again, but also has intend to organize 20 of its competitions.
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