Fifteen years ago the results of a car accident left him in a wheelchair but Yuri Ferrigno, born in Ravenna in 1987, did not give up and today he is one of the strongest players in the world of parabadminton, a version for disabled athletes of the discipline also known in Italy with the name of flywheel. Fourteenth in the world singles ranking and first in the doubles ranking together with his Peruvian teammate, three national titles and the fourth consecutive in the crosshairs for the championships that will begin in Milan next weekend, Ferrigno has his racket within reach. qualification for the Paralympics in Paris in 2024: «This – he says – is my primary objective at the moment. The Games are the pinnacle for every sportsman ». Competitiveness and tenacity, on the other hand, have always been written in the DNA of Yuri, who comes from a family of sportsmen, with his uncle who was a professional footballer in Como and a childhood spent in turn on the green rectangle, before the accident spared the cards of his fate without being able to win it. Achievements and future prospects require great sacrifices, and not only for the six hours of exercise that Ferrigno carries out in the Lombard capital from Monday to Friday, the only para-athlete to use the federal technical center in which the able-bodied Italian badminton team trains. In his Ravenna, where he returns at the weekend, there is no structure capable of hosting sportsmen of this specialty, even if in the past Ferrigno had asked to open a dialogue with the Municipality on this issue: “I asked to have a gym in which to train. Given the international results, I thought it could also be a way to give visibility to my city, but I have never been able to find concrete support – he says -. Thanks to a friend, the Children’s Village was made available to me, then I decided to move to Milan because my coach, Megumi Sonoda, lives there. Clearly it would be easier to be able to stay at home, even at the level of social life ». In short, it really seems appropriate to have to agree with the saying that “no one is a prophet at home”, but this is not the only aspect that would require more attention for the athlete: “Perhaps – he reflects – greater sensitivity would be needed, starting with the parking spaces for the disabled. In Ravenna they are almost all the other way around, with the pavement on the driver’s side. As if we could not drive but only be transported ».
Ferrigno, however, is not a person who lets himself be discouraged and is used to reasoning in a pragmatic way, as he did when, after the nine months of rehabilitation following the accident, he immediately inquired to understand which sport he did for him, landing so to badminton: «Sport is my life – he says -. There I find that outlet and that passion that is usually difficult to match with a real job. I think it represents one of the most important points of reference for a person: sport makes you think by objectives and this continually generates new stimuli and ideas ».
