Pilar Jáuregui: “The goal is to qualify for the Paris Games and fight for the podium, I would like my revenge” | Para badminton | RMMD EMCC | FULL-SPORTS

No one is prepared for their life to change from one moment to another. A few pains when walking were the beginning of a 180 degree turn for Pilar Jauregui, who at the age of 14 learned that he suffered from congenital bilateral hip dislocation. Two years later the surgeries began and at 18 she had to stop walking and use a wheelchair. The depression came to affect her at the time, she thought that her dreams would collapse, and above all she believed that she would no longer practice sports, she liked volleyball, surfing, basketball, tennis and badminton.

However, he was wrong, the wheelchair was not an obstacle to pursue dreams and return to the courts, he learned about adapted sports and rediscovered badminton. In 2015, she tried para badminton, trained for a few weeks and won a gold medal. She had felt like before. In 2018, she won three gold medals at the Pan American Para Badminton and became the best paraathlete in the region. Her career was rising and the medals kept coming. She was in Lima 2019 and was present at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

This year, the Peruvian para badminton player, sixth in the world, started her season abroad in a great way, traveling through Spain, Brazil and recently she was in Canada (at the Canada Para Badminton International), where she won two gold medals ( in singles and doubles in the WH2 mode). Depor spoke with Pilar Jáuregui to talk about her good times and her plans for the future, thinking about the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023 and the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

You just won two golds at the Canada Para Badminton International, how are you feeling?

I feel very good, very happy with what I am achieving, with my level. Beyond the medals, every time I get to the game I want and that is undoubtedly thanks to the work I have been doing with my Federation, my coaches, the family. Now I feel good and enjoying the sport.

How do you see your moment internationally?

My international year started in Spain, then in Brazil and now in Canada, but I had also just come out of COVID-19, I had gotten sick before going to Spain. It was hard to come back a bit, because I was out of the field and the physique does feel, but after that I had to go back to what we were working on in high performance, with a view to the World Cup in Japan (which he already qualified for). This year I have started well, with a good ranking too, but still very focused on what I want: Paris 2024 and being on a world podium.

Did it affect you to come back after COVID?

In my case, the symptoms did not affect me, I had to go home and have all the care that one already knows, but when I entered the field, I did feel the physical impact in the most decisive points. I felt that I was out of breath physically, but later we returned to resume physical and resistance work. Now everything is under control.

Does the assembly of your calendar this year obey any specific plan?

I don’t know if I’m still going to [un torneo en] Thailand, which is in August, we are still going to talk about it with my coaches, that tournament is going to be strong, because all the Asian players will go there and it would be nice to be able to go there. One of the things that I am prioritizing is to train as much as I can this year, I want to be in the National, also in the World Cup, the Pan American, which is also in November, and around there the South American and the International of Peru, both closing the year. Just close with those championships, because next year it is safer that from January 1 the points for Paris 2024 begin, so, if I don’t dedicate myself to training this year, next year I will have to travel and travel and participate in all the tournaments, there will be no time to train. The goal is to qualify for Paris and fight for the podium, it would be my second Olympic Games and I would like to have my revenge.

Do the tournaments you have been to already add points for Santiago 2023 and Paris 2024?

Not yet, I just got the classification system for Santiago, and the sum of points starts from this month, to qualify for the Pan American Games. The first few months I am not going to make much of an effort, because the World Cup, the Peru International and the Pan-American are going to give me good points for Santiago and after that, in the first tournaments of 2023 I hope to get the quota, and everything is part of the plan for Paris.

How are the workouts going? How many days do you train a week?

I am living in Videna, in the Videna shelter. This gives us the comfort of being able to train quietly, nearby, being able to have a good rest and have all the conditions to be able to dedicate ourselves to training. We train from 6:30 am to 9:00 am, we come to have breakfast. Then I go to train a while longer, until 11:00 am, when I don’t do that double training in the mornings, I do therapy, then I have lunch at 2:00 pm, and at 3 we return to the field until 5:00 pm ; hence another break, because I have a new training from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm, like this from Monday to Saturday. If you want, you have to sacrifice.

What tournament are you coming up with now?

Over there to confirm the one in Thailand, which is in August. That month there is also a tournament in Ayacucho, also a Federation Cup in Videna.

Behind you, more competitors of your modality are entering, but at the moment of training or competing here, do you feel that you still cannot find someone of your level, does that affect you?

Yes, it is expensive not to have someone of the same level or better than you. In the official championships, it was difficult for me. I train with the short guys and with the juniors, but it’s still different, because they jump, the hit is different. Another solution that we have when training is to play two against one, two sit on chairs, and it is one of the exercises that works the most, because there is no other way. But yes, before the World Cup I am planning to have a camp and have other athletes come from outside so I can get used to one-on-one. It is one of the things that costs me the most, especially with the first points.

You have traveled to other countries, as you see the issue of access in Lima for people with disabilities, what should we improve?

We have not improved much in terms of transportation, there is only the electric train and the metropolitan, and that some metropolitan feeders do not have the ramp and are defined routes. The issue of accessibility on the tracks has been improved, with the ramps, the most accessible things, they are a new improvement. The streets are more accessible, although some are poorly built or in poor condition, but this situation has improved. Respect for parking lots and accessible places as well as empathy. Compared to other countries, the most accessible places I have visited have been Canada, Japan. In Canada, I was surprised because all the cities I went to are accessible, here we can improve something.

A message for people with disabilities and how sport can help them and continue to develop…

Personally, sport has changed me a lot, getting ahead, living, enjoying life, which is the most important thing. It has given me so much security, that confidence to believe in myself, that I can achieve it, it has given me this. Tell them that we all have problems and we have to have a little faith in ourselves, in what we want to do, not only in sports, but in studies, entrepreneurship. Believe in yourself and have a lot of faith.

Pilar Jáuregui medals this year

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