He started as a newly promoted and his own initial forecasts were to struggle to retain the category. However, the Binéfar Judo Club presents itself to the third and last day of the Second Men’s Division as leader of the classification and with all the options of achieving promotion to the national elite, something that no other Aragonese team has achieved to date. Before the appointment that will take place on Saturday morning in the facilities that the Madrid Judo Federation has in Villaviciosa de Odón, the literanos are “very excited and nervous”assures his coach, Raúl Clemente, who is also the sports director of the Aragonese Federation.
The jump to the First Division is reserved for the top three in a table made up of twelve teams. Right now, Binéfar has twelve points and is followed by a group of four components with two points less, among which are two of the four rivals they must face on the final day, the Sakura of Madrid and the San Sebastian. Cerdanyola has nine points, with whom they will also face each other, and Móstoles has six, which is in eighth place.
“We have spent days thinking about the options we have, the line-ups that other teams can present and the recent references of direct confrontations”, Clement acknowledges. With Cerdanyola and San Sebastián they already met last season in the Third Division. “They are very regular, made up of people from the house and very experienced,” he highlights of the two. The results then were not positive, with the Catalans they fell weighed down by two important casualties and with the Basques they tied.
Al Sakura considers him “the strongest”. “He will have been reinforced and has members from the Madrid High Performance Center (CAR),” he adds. For its part, Móstoles is a subsidiary of the one that already competes in the First Division. The Aragonese Sergio Ibáñez, silver medalist in the last Paralympic Games, appears in their ranks.
The entire competition has been held in Villaviciosa de Odón. The days consist of a series of direct crosses between teams in which competitors of five weights, +66 kg, +73 kg, +81 kg, -90 kg and +90 kg, are measured in each one. In the seven games that Binéfar has already carried in his backpack, he has won six. His only loss was on the first day. In the second, played on May 7, he celebrated a full victories.
The literary team is mostly made up of youngsters from the club itself who have been having good results in the training categories. The block that will seek promotion has already been decided. will compose it Manuel Alonso (+66 kg), third in the Spanish University Championship, Sergio García (+81kg) and Mousa Macalou (+73 kg), scholarship recipients at the CAR in Madrid and recently attended the European Open in Madrid, Vladislav Parechyn (-90 kg), who after a time without competing for work reasons has been preparing especially for the occasion and the +90 kg eloy rodriguez, Bogdan Seceac y L.A. Smith. The latter is an American reinforcement that is in the Valencia CAR and was third in the Lisbon Grand Prix. He has been recruited for Saturday thanks to the good relationship between Binéfar and the Olympian Sugoi Udiarte, a reference in Levantine judo.
Whatever happens, the party is guaranteed. At night the end of the CJ Binéfar course is scheduled, which this year has had 200 athletes. “Our intention is to be present to celebrate a season above expectations,” promises Clemente.
