A guest from Honduras:

Miguel Adrián Ferrera Rodríguez and his trainer Julio Antonio Jova Trujillo, from Honduras, are currently our guests at the Sant Cugat High Performance Centre.

Miguel won classification for the Olympic Games in Beijing in the heavyweight category, at the American Pre-Olympic Championships a few months ago.

With the aim of preparing for next summer’s great event, they have honoured the Sant Cugat High Performance Centre with their presence.

We wish them a hearty welcome!!!

Belgian Open:

Next weekend five competitors from the CAR of Sant Cugat will attend, the Belgian Open. So Ana Casabella, Diana Vázquez, Estefanía Almela, Daniel Torres and Aran Carbó, are off to Herentals, Belgium, with the National Team next Friday to participate in this Championship, which is known as one of the most important in Europe.

Good luck!!!

The Spanish team prepares for the European Championship:

The Spanish National Team has been assembled for the last two weeks at the High Performance Centre in Sant Cugat near Barcelona in order to get ready for the European Championship, to be held in Rome from the 10th to the 13th of April. They have been testing, the new Electronic Body Protectors, which will be used this year for the first time in a European Championship. This new equipment will be a challenge for the Spanish Team, which has already experienced their function in the 2008 German Open 2008(6).

The selected team will be made up of the following competitors:

Females:

• Elaia Torrontegui (-47kg.)
• Brigitte Yagüe (-51kg.)
• Andrea Rica (-55kg.)
• Estefanía Hernández (-59kg.)
• Sara Barbero (-63kg.)
• Sandra Lorenzo (-67kg.)
• Noelia Ruiz (-72kg.)
• Sonia Reyes (+72kg.)

Males:

• Vicente Muriel (-54kg.)
• Joel González (-58kg.)
• José Luis Méndez (-62kg.)
• Omar Badia (-68kg.)
• Artitz Itxisoa (-72kg.)
• Nicolás Gracia (-78kg.)
• Manuel Danta (-84kg.)
• Miquel Bernal (+84kg.)

We wish all our competitors the best of luck!

German Open 2008

The Spanish National Taekwondo team went to the German Open held in Hamburg last weekend. This competition is one of the most important events for national teams, in order to get ready for the European Championship.

Jose Luis Méndez won the gold medal, passing each one of his six contests and defeating in the final the German fighter Levent Tuncat, who has classified for the Olympic Games.
Congratulations, José Luís!

The Electronic Body Protectors were the great challenge in this championship since it’s the first time that this competition has used them. The new electronic body protectors, will be required for the European Championship in April. Opinions about the performance of these body protectors are mixed.

Spanish National Championship: Segovia 2008

Last weekend almost all the competitors from the High Performance Center in Sant Cugat, just outside Barcelona competed in the Spanish National Championship, obtaining brilliant results:

The GOLD medals were for:

• Andrea Rica (-55kg.)
• Sara Barbero (-63kg.)
• Javier Marrón (-62kg.)
• Francisco Ramírez (-58kg.)
• Laura Uriola (–51kg.)
• Vicente Muriel (-54kg.)

While the SILVER medals were for:

• Leire Matute (-67kg.)
• David Tarrida (-72kg.)
• José Luis Méndez (-62kg.)
• Tamara Good (-59kg.)

And the BRONZE medals were for:

• Estefanía Almela (-63kg.)
• Diana Vázquez (-59kg.)
• Elena Gómez (+72kg.)
• Manuel Danta (-84kg.)
• Ana Casabella (-55kg.)
• José A. Carregal (-72kg.)

And Aran Carbó, Raúl Martínez, Gema González and Daniel Torres were stopped only a step away from the medal.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

3 classifications for the Olympic Games!!!

This weekend’s European Pre-Olympic championships’ in Istanbul finished today with great news for the Spanish team. Three members have been classified to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games!

They are:
Juan Antonio Ramos in (-58kg).
Jon García in (+80kg).
Rosana Simón in (+67kg).

Congratulations to all!!!
(For more details visit the Spanish Taekwondo Federation web page at http://www.fetaekwndo.net/)

European Pre-Olympic Championships

The team selected to compete in the European Pre-Olympic Championships’ left yesterday for Istanbul, Turkye, to participate in the event, to be held this weekend. Brigitte Yagüe (-49kg), Juan Antonio Ramos (-58kg), Jon García (+80kg) and Rosana Simon (+67kg), are representing the Spanish Taekwondo team in this event, along with Belen Asensio and José Luís Méndez as alternates.

Winning a medal in this championship is the objective of each one of our competitors, given that it would guarantee their participation in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

¡¡¡Go team!!!