David Gómez Casanovas (Gijón, 1975) has been leading Asturian badminton for three decades. Next year he faces elections. “I don’t know whether to show up, this is hard. If they count on me, I guess I’ll continue,” he says. He insists on the great atmosphere that exists around his sport.
–Are you satisfied with the current situation of your Federation?
–Yes, we are happy. We continue in our line. Being small, what we lack is support. We bring out athletes of almost Olympic level, and sometimes we think that we could do more if we had more help, but hey, it’s everyone’s cry.
–It is a recurring complaint among their counterparts from other federations.
–Unfortunately, the aid from the Principality is a very tiny amount compared to communities comparable to ours. Cantabria, with half the population, receives much more money. Or in the Canary Islands, where I am a lot for work… if we had as much money as the Canary Islands we would get Olympians like hotcakes! It’s about money, as well as work and effort. With money you can have good coaches, take people out to compete…
–What do you think is the reason for this underfinancing that you denounce?
–It is a political decision. The one in charge decides what he spends the money on. Even if they gave us double the money, it would still be a ridiculous amount compared to Asturias’ budget. We have very big shortcomings in our sports facilities, some are falling apart, all the managers in all the municipalities tell you this. They do not realize that with more investment people would have better health and, therefore, healthcare spending would decrease. I am vice president of the Spanish Federation, so I control the help that other communities receive, and I am envious when I compare it with ours.
–Is Asturian badminton better than when you assumed the presidency?
–Badminton has improved a lot. Not because of me, but because in the Federation we have an impressive working group. By making an extra effort, with unpaid or underpaid people, we have managed to promote a technology center that is a benchmark at the level of events: we are a vanguard at the national level, organizing Spanish championships every year. We are now after organizing the 2026 European Championship.
–Will they achieve it?
–It depends on the help of the town councils and the Principality.
–Do you trust it?
–I am an optimist, I want to be.
–What would it mean for Asturias to organize the championship?
–Badminton is the fourth most practiced sport in the world. In China and India it is the second and third sport, and we are talking about two countries that make up a third of the world’s population. In France, there are 250,000 badminton players. We are a relatively new sport in Spain, we are still in the growth phase. Carolina Marín has helped us a lot. We have more and more licenses and more clubs, but the problem is that we cannot grow as much as we would like due to lack of facilities.
–In your sport there are many female references, also in Asturias, such as Laura Álvarez.
–Yes, it makes us very happy. Also, in boys, there is Quique Peñalver, who was at the Oviedo Technical Center and who is fighting to be an Olympian. And, apart from Laura, there are Pelayo Pinto, Marcos García, Pablo Serrano in parabadminton, who is fighting to go to the Paralympics… We can’t complain.
–Tell me about the Oviedo Technology Center.
–They have cut our aid a lot in recent times. Before they gave us several thousand euros in ruffles, and suddenly they don’t give them to us anymore… well, we play with stones!
–Did they give you any explanation?
–Aida (Nuño, former general director of Sports of the Principality) said that it did not apply. She said: “I don’t give balls to the basketball player either…”, but basketball doesn’t have a technical center here. If they cut you on one side and on the other… Before we had 12 internship places for kids from Gijón and the wings who now can’t come, and let’s not talk about people from outside Asturias: to improve the level of our players, You have to have good sparring partners who come from outside. I’m afraid that one day we’ll get tired and not shoot anymore.
–The Oviedo Badminton Club (CBO) continues to be consolidated in the elite, leading the Unique Club Ranking.
–The CBO is always in the spotlight for being number one. He has a tremendous youth system and a very professional club structure.
–Rubiales.
–This man lost his temper. The lack of respect towards the footballers and the public in general was shameful, I was amazed when I saw it. In badminton, although there is still machismo because he is involved in society, there is much less. For example, Division of Honor is a mixed competition in which there are the same number of boys and girls, and there are eight coaches, the referee is a woman and there are several female referees. We need them to take a step forward and start leading.
2024-01-03 07:41:41
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