The Chilean Paralympic Committee has secured the largest equipment donation in its 13-year history, acquiring specialized technology and training gear valued at more than 63 million Chilean pesos to prepare athletes for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games.
New Technology Arrives at the National Paralympic Training Center
Fundación Te Apoyamos, an organization established by businessman Andrónico Luksic, handed over the equipment during a ceremony attended by Sports Minister Francisco Riveros and Jorge Juárez, national director of the National Disability Service (Senadis). The delivery establishes a major upgrade for high-performance preparation across three core areas: physical conditioning, injury recovery, and technical performance analysis.
The shipment includes a biomechanical analysis system designed specifically for para-table tennis players, featuring tools to measure movement speed, ball contact points, joint angles, and overall body coordination. It also incorporates adaptable strength-training machines, a portable ultrasound device for real-time musculoskeletal evaluations, and a therapeutic percutaneous electrolysis system.
Individualized Support for Nine Select Athletes
Beyond the facility-wide technology, the contribution allocates specialized gear and individualized backing for nine prominent competitors representing Team ParaChile across various disciplines. The supported athletes include Dana Morales, Javiera Quintriqueo, Jean Pierre Salinas, Johann Herrera, Eduardo Heredia, Camilo Miranda, Mariela López, Arturo Edwards, and Rodrigo Encina. Their specific training requirements span para-judo, boccia, para-athletics, para-archery, para-canoeing, and para-shooting.
Sebastián Villavicencio Villagra, president of the Chilean Paralympic Committee, emphasized the critical nature of the upgrade during the handover. “This is the largest donation that the Committee has received in its thirteen years of history,” Villavicencio Villagra stated, adding that high-performance sport is decided by minute fractions. “With time we have learned that, in high performance, details make the difference.”
Athletes Highlight the Impact on International Competition
Ignacio Torres, a national para-table tennis selection and the current world number one in class 6, pointed directly to the biomechanical system as a transformative asset for his training routine. “In high performance, matches are won and lost over small things. This technology will allow us to analyze details that are very difficult to observe with the naked eye, such as the stroke, the angle with which we impact the ball, or our movements,” Torres said. He is currently preparing to travel to Thailand for the World Championships, his primary competition of the season.
Vicente Almonacid, a national para-swimming selection, echoed those sentiments regarding the necessity of modern technological backing. “To compete against powerhouses, where details make the difference, this is a giant help to our sporting development,” Almonacid noted.
Private Donation Supports Adaptive Athletes
Carolina Ubilla, executive director of Fundación Te Apoyamos, framed the donation as an explicit commitment to the nation’s adaptive athletes. “This is a concrete way to tell our athletes that we believe in them and that we want to accompany them so that they can train in better conditions,” Ubilla said, expressing hope that the milestone marks the foundation of a long-term partnership with the committee.
Sports Minister Francisco Riveros welcomed the influx of private resources into the national sports ecosystem. “Public-private collaborations like this are always very welcome. They allow us to pool efforts and generate better opportunities so that our athletes can prepare and compete at the highest level,” Riveros stated.
The new equipment is already integrated into daily sessions at the Centro de Entrenamiento Paralímpico, supporting more than 300 resident athletes and establishing a technical baseline intended to scale across more than 2,000 competitors nationwide ahead of the 2028 cycle.
Related reading
