By Fernando Antunez
MORE THAN OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF SPAIN AT THE EUROPEAN PARALYMPIC YOUTH GAMES
During this weekend, the city of Pajulahti in Finland, has hosted the European Youth Paralympic Games. An event in which many have taken their first steps on their journey towards a professional sports career and have broken the shell to debut in international competition. More than 500 athletes between the ages of 14 and 23 from approximately thirty countries have gathered in an event in which there have been eight sports disciplines: wheelchair basketball, swimming, boccia, goalball, judo, showdown, table tennis table and athletics.
Our country attended with 48 participants and 6 guides. The Spanish delegation has had a magnificent performance harvesting 53 medals, divided into 23 gold, 20 silver and 10 bronze. The metals have been achieved in the following disciplines: Athletics (38), swimming (7), table tennis (5), boccia (2) and judo (1).
Athletics: Athletics has been the discipline that has harvested the most metals with 38 (18 gold, 13 silver and 7 bronze). Valencian Elena Latre, the European ‘queen’ in the throwing events in the F40 sub 17 category, has won three gold medals, seasoned with Spanish records. She won in weight with 5.59 meters, in javelin with 12.21 and in discus with 13.24 meters.
Two gold medals were won by the sprinter Tania Castillo (T37) in the 100-meter dash (15.17 seconds) and in the 400-meter dash (1:12.08).
Joan Sirera has been another protagonist by adding a golden double. About to turn 17, the man from Alicante was proclaimed champion in 100 meters T13 sub 20 after crossing the finish line in 11.52 seconds in a final in which he was far superior to his rivals. And in the long jump he prevailed with 5.91 meters.
Two other athletes who bathed in gold in the 100 and 400 meter T12 events were Diego Ruiz from Salamanca (11.81 and 56.94 seconds) and Gara Fuentes from Madrid (13.62 and 1:03.14). With three medals went Ander Olaso (gold in long jump T11 with 4.15 meters and silvers in 400 meters with 1:07.81 and in 800 with 2:27.05), Nacho Palacios (gold in 800 T13 with 2:12.19 and silvers in 400 with 58.53 and in 1,500 with 4:38.99) and Carolina Yuste (gold in length T13 with 4.50 meters and silver in shot put with 6.88 and in 100 meters with 14.70).
Two medals went to Gonzalo Iniesta (bronze in 100 T36 with 14.45 and silver in 400 with 1:05.83), Xiana Pungin (bronze in 100 with 14.75 and silver in length T13 sub 17 with 3.78 meters), Ana Moya (bronze in 100 T11 with 14.53 and silver in long jump with 4.71), Jorge Errando (gold in 400 T13 with 56.79 and silver in 800 with 2:14.11), Sydney Fokou (gold in shot put F12 with 8.04 meters and bronze in long jump with 4.69) and Diego Prieto (bronzes in 400 with 1:07.40 and in 800 with 2:41.36).
In shot put, gold medals for Ismael Romero in F13 sub 20 with 12.75 meters and for María Zamora in sub 17 with 9.17 meters. Silvers were achieved by Andrea Yuste in 400 T13 under 17 with 1:14.32, Christopher Steven Quishpe in high jump with 1.45 meters and Lucía Pugneire in 800 T12 with 3:06.65. While Nuria Pascual was bronze in 400 T13 with 1:08.63.
Swimming: The swimmers Kike Alhambra, Arnau Dasí, Jaime Montero and Álex Villarejo.
In the Mäkelänrinne pool, the Spanish splashed seven medals, with Kike Alhambra as the main stronghold after adding four. The Valencian, who recently participated in the Absolute World Cup in Portugal where he won silver in the relay event, won two golds in Finland in the 50 freestyle (25.20 seconds) and in the 100 butterfly S13 (58.93), a silver in the 100 backstroke (1 :03.04) and a bronze in the 200 IM (2:25.87).
Table tennis: In table tennis Spain added five medals. In the individual event, Iker González (class 1-5) achieved bronze after being first in group B with plenty of victories. He beat Italian Diego Coren 3-0, Frenchman Joseph Harent 3-0 and Croatian Nino Basa 3-2 to secure the podium. In the semifinals he was unable to beat the Norwegian Sebastian Vegsund (1-3), with whom he later teamed up to win the team gold.
In class 10 Edgar Mataró also got a bronze by beating Italian Lorenzo Magarelli 3-2 and Polish Jakub Ostoja-Solecki 3-0. The Swedish Erik Linander (1-3) closed his way to the final. The Catalan, together with the Extremaduran Marlon López, added a team silver in class 20 by winning 2-0 against the Irish Geoghan-Sheldon, 2-0 against the Danish Sainoski and the Polish Bartosik, and in the semifinals 2-1 against the Swedish Erik Linander-Axel Jensen Wallin. In the final they fell 1-2 to the Italians Lorenzo Magarelli and Lorenzo Cordua. And Alejandro Díaz, with the Croatian Borna Zohil as a partner, climbed to the top of the podium in class 16. For their part, Amanda Chenoll and Olaia Martínez did not go beyond the group stage.
Boccia: The Spanish boccia contributed two medals in these European Games. In the BC1 category (they throw the ball with their hands or feet and may need the help of an assistant to adjust the chair or pass the ball to the athlete) Francisco Bautista took silver. The Ibense was second in Group B after beating Italian Riccardo Zanella 4-2 and Greek Theodoros Liontos 9-0.
In the third match of the first phase he lost 1-11 against the Portuguese Francisco Reis Alves. In the semifinals he beat Israeli Nikita Prokopenko 7-2 and secured silver. In the final he fell again with the Portuguese Alves by 0-6.
In BC2 (for those athletes who shoot with their hands and do not need help) two Spanish players have competed. Mikel Erdozaín was eliminated in the group stage, but Xuban Santín had more luck, who despite losing to the Greek Pangiotis Paschos, his 3-1 win against the German Florian Witt gave him the ticket for the semifinals. The Basque beat the Czech Hatak (2-2) in the tiebreaker, although in the final he could not defeat David Pinto (1-6).
Javier Muñoz competed in judo in -60 kilos, Andrés Zhao in -73 kg, Laura Xueyuan in +70 kg and Rodrigo Suárez in +90 kilos, who took the gold. The man from Madrid, along with Raúl Marchante, Pablo Galiñanes and Manuel García, was also part of the Spanish goalball team led by Paco Monreal that finished in fourth position. They lost their four matches in the group stage, in the quarterfinals they beat Finland (6-3), in the semifinals they fell to Israel (1-11) and in the fight for bronze they could not beat Great Britain (6-9). .
