Women’s wheelchair basketball team could not travel to the South American

Through a press release signed by the members of the Colombian women’s wheelchair basketball team, it was reported that they will not participate in the South American in the category that began on November 28 in Buenos Aires because they were not able to the tickets for the transfer of the delegation.

According to the statement, they stated the following: “They had us waiting for a response for three days until on November 28, we were found out by people outside the organization in our country that at 10:00 am they had already confirmed the request. no participation of the female team and yes that of the male, this being an outrageous and discriminatory act ”.

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Later they assured that “only until 8:00 pm of the same day a virtual meeting was held in which they confirmed that there was definitely no possibility to compete, which results in a possible suspension of the team preventing our participation in future events” .

The team also commented that “it is not fair that if the resources were disbursed in time to make the respective reservation, only a couple of days before they try to find solutions that did not reach any results.”

El Espectador, in dialogue with the press office of the Ministry of Sports, confirmed that the resources were disbursed for said competition, which amounted to a total of 387 million pesos

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According to the Colombian Paralympic Committee, through a press release, different searches were carried out to obtain the tickets and achieve what was proposed, but it was not possible. “From November 12 of the current year and until November 27, a search process for international flights to the city of Buenos Aires began, leaving Bogotá on November 27 and returning to Colombia on December 7, according to the established schedule ”.

It was also reported that: “No availability of flights that met the required dates was found. Due to the biosafety restrictions used in Argentina. Prices ranged from $ 8,000,000 to $ 9,000,000 (prices not including additional values ​​for luggage with special features such as sports wheelchairs). Costs that exceed the regular market prices for this type of itinerary and that exceed the budgeted amount assigned for this concept ”.

The Colombian Paralympic Committee reported in its statement the different options that they contemplated to be able to specify the trip of the selection with flights including national, border and international connections.

In fact, one of the points that the women’s team alleges is that the men’s team was able to travel, the Committee’s response was as follows: “The facts presented with the flights to Argentina do not correspond to violations of the right to equality, which is respected and appreciated by this sports organization with each of its performances ”.

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They even affirmed that several players did not have a visa to enter the United States and that this process took more than a year, but for the men’s team the process is different. “We are processing the participation of the men’s team for this same sporting event, whose situation is different, since most of its members have a US visa and there is more time to acquire air tickets, however, the difficulties to the entrance to Argentina are the same ”.

Yuli Quiceno, one of the members of the Colombian women’s wheelchair basketball team, spoke with El Espectador, expressing what happened to the situation. “When we found out that the registration of the men’s team was carried out, the 25 athletes that make up the selection met and presented a right to petition clarifying this outrageous and discriminatory situation.”

The players had been in Bogotá for more than 10 days waiting for a response. “We have been training in Bogotá from November 18 until today the 30th of the same month. Until the 25th they had us in the concentration, they never gave us a game uniform, the hydration arrived on the last day of the concentration, we did not have tires or tools to fix the chairs, we did not have any kind of guarantees within the concentration “.

The Colombian national team, the mirror of José Pékerman

Disappointment and frustration are present in the players. “They had the resolution for the preselection and the concentration, which came out on November 7, they had to anticipate and organize the logistics issue of which they had knowledge since June 21, 2021.”

To this, the following is added: “It was a lack of organization and negligence on the administrative side, they played with our hopes as athletes, making us wait until the last day to say no, that they ended a whole Paralympic cycle. We could receive sanctions, we could be committed to the Copa América that will be held next year ”.

The Colombian women’s basketball team asks for public excuses from the organizations involved in the whole process, as well as “a quality process, a minimum of concentrations, preparation, technical protection, more respect for the women’s process, which includes us in the fundamental letter of the Paranational Games, that allow us to play as a team in the interclubs that are made in the departments and that international blanks are made to improve our level ”.