This weekend the Spanish senior karate championship is being held in Villamediana de Iregua. The Olympic champion, Sandra Sánchez and the Olympic runner-up, Damián Quintero, did not want to miss this event that both have closed again with a gold around their necks.
the talavera, which It has been since 2015 without getting off a podium, He has shown an impressive level, after the first rounds, in which he has forcefully prevailed with the katas kururunfa, suparimpei and papuren, He has reached the full final against the Madrid and world team runner-up, Lidia Rodríguez. Sandra Sánchez has shown once again that a Spanish championship is just as important to her as an Olympics, she has performed the chatanyara kusshanku kata that already gave her gold in Tokyo with the same intensity and motivation.
Sandra, in what she has announced as the year of her retirement, that gold has been hung in Villamediana de Iregua surrounded by her loved ones, with a dedicated audience and offering this emotional medal to all those who have made her path possible. In subsequent interviews she has reiterated that this will be the end of her career in the absence of the European Championships in May and the World Games in July.
For his part, the Malaga Damián Quintero, after a short sports break to gain strength after his silver in Tokyo, has reappeared in the Spanish championship working forcefully against his rivals in the eliminatory with the katas kururunfa, shisochin and suparimpei. In the final, against Sergio Galán, who was also the world team runner-up, Damián won convincingly with the Ohan Dai kata, but Galán has made it clear with this grand finale that he wants to be the successor to Damián Quintero.
In subsequent interviews, Damián has made it clear that this does not have to be his last Spanish championship and that, at this point in his career, he is “signing up” year after year. His dedication has been for those who always support him to reach this moment with enthusiasm after so many years in the elite of world sport. In addition to the finals of Sandra and Damián The team kata categories were also developed where Madrid won the gold in both women’s and men’s.
The para-karate categories showed that this modality has an increasing number of participants and a high level on the part of the participants and they won gold: In male intellectual disability K21, Carlos Ruiz, in male intellectual disability k22, Víctor Prieto, female intellectual disability k21, Lucía Sánchez, female intellectual disability k22, Andrea Matari, male visual disability, Fran Lozano, male physical disability, Félix Escribano, female physical disability, Jenifer Malo, male wheelchair, Juan Antonio Sepulcre and in a female wheelchair, Isabel Fernández. Today will be the turn of the individual kumite with the presence of, among other outstanding international competitors, the recent world champion, María Torres.