The finals of The Rector Trophy, a classic of university sports in Extremadura, was played this week at the sports facilities on the Badajoz campus, managed by the Physical Activity and Sports Service (Safyde), dependent on the Office of the Vice President for University Extension. All this was carried out with success and emotion, they report from Safyde himself.
To begin with, according to the Uex itself, Celia Li Pomet and Ruben Riesco from Cáceres won doubles in badminton. Then the three padel finals were played, with a plenary session for Cáceres: female Isabel Muñoz-Ana Acedo, male David Manzano-Lucas Navareño and mixed Alejandro Gracia-Elena Manzano.
In chess also victory for Cáceres with Celia Li Pomet, in table tennis for Badajoz with Javier Román and in individual badminton for Mario González, also from Badajoz. In the tennis final, the incombustible Juan Felix Gonzalez, a veteran professor at the School of Industrial Engineering, won the victory.
In team sports 3-2 for Cáceres: an exciting victory for Badajoz in futsal: final draw after extra time and three excellent saves by the Badajoz goalkeeper in the penalty shootout, which gave them the title; comfortable victories from Cáceres in football-7, basketball and volleyball, ixto and direct 3×3 basketball championship for Badajoz, since no competition was played in Cáceres.
Due to health problems, Antonio Hidalgo, rector of the UEx and regular at this event, could not attend the awards ceremony; In his place, the vice-rector Jacinto Martin attended, who encouraged him to continue participating in the Rector’s Trophy, “as a means of full training during his time at the university”.
The director of Safyde, Antonio Salguero, congratulated all the participants, “winners or not”, and thanked them for “continuing to give life to the service he directs and therefore to the Uex”. Sonia Bejarano, director-manager of the Fundación Jovenes y Deporte and Dan de Sande, general director of Sports, were present on behalf of the Junta de Extremadura. The first highlighted the importance of sports practice in all areas of society, “and the university could not be less” and the second reaffirmed the commitment of the Board to continue with its strong support for the sport of the Uex, “as It has been doing in recent years with important subsidy and sponsorship initiatives”.
