SANTANDER, 14 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Palacio de los Deportes de Santander has everything ready to host, starting next Monday, October 17, the Junior Badminton World Championship, which will have some 900 participants from 37 countries who will compete until the 30th in an event which will involve nearly 2,000 people.
The installation of the tracks was attended this Friday by the regional vice president and councilor for Universities, Equality, Culture and Sports, Pablo Zuloaga; the mayor of Santander, Gema Igual; the regional director of Sports, Mario Iglesias; the CEO of Cantur, Fernando de la Pinta; the head of Major Events of the International Badminton Federation, Venu Mahalingam; the president of the Spanish Badminton Federation, Andoni Azurmendi; and the president of the Cantabrian Badminton Federation, Marisa Pérez de la Torre.
Admission to the meetings will be free, and will be held between 9:00 and 22:00 in three sessions, at 9:00, 13:00 and 17:00, in which different meetings will be scheduled.
Zuloaga has placed Cantabria as an international sports benchmark with this championship, which will also have an “economic impact” of nearly 2 million euros with the direct income that will be generated. Gema Igual has also mentioned the economic impact of the event, although in her case, she has estimated the direct income that will be obtained thanks to the tournament at around 6 million.
The vice-president underlined how sport serves as an economic vector that makes it possible to seasonally adjust tourism and generate activity and employment in Santander and throughout Cantabria. In addition, he has pointed out the indirect return of this event with the international repercussion of the
image of Santander and Cantabria, especially in the Asian market, through the retransmission of matches.
He also went on to say that Santander “is ready” to hold the World Junior Badminton Championships, “an event of the highest international level and with a very important impact for Santander and for its projection abroad,” he said.
“For this reason, we have taken great care in every detail so that the competition and everything that surrounds it takes place in the best possible conditions”, added the mayor, who also highlighted that the championship will feature the best players in the category junior, of which many will participate in the next few years in the Olympic Games.
In this sense, he recalled that the current Olympic champions and a good number of world champions at the absolute level won the junior world title years ago.
And he has referred to the player Lucía Rodríguez, who has risen to number 1 in the world junior doubles ranking, achieving a historic milestone, being the first Spanish athlete to reach the top of the world doubles ranking.
“For the City Council it is a source of real satisfaction to host a sporting event of these characteristics, we are a city absolutely committed to the values of sport”, concluded Igual.
The Junior Badminton World Championship has been organized by the Spanish and Cantabrian Badminton Federations, with the collaboration of the Government of Cantabria, the Santander City Council and the Higher Sports Council, as indicated by the regional Executive and the Consistory in their communications.
