The Wheelchair Handball World Cup is at the official starting gate for the first time in its history. The Chilean and Brazilian teams are the only American representatives battling to win the Cup in Cairo, Egypt.
In Chile, a practice that is slowly becoming more visible is Wheelchair handball is a Paralympic sport. A discipline that is still in the early days of its life and seeking the necessary impulse to be known on the local scene.
with world of gates the national team of this activity prepares to travel to leave Chile on top at the Planetary Games to be held in Middle East, especially Egypt.
national player Alexis Knight BioBioChile, noted that it is still a nascent sport, with the first official World Cup just days away, and the Chilean team seeking sponsorship to arrive in Cairo.
First official World Cup
During the dialogue, the athlete commented on how the planetary event classification was. “What happened International Handball Federation (IHF) was to define the first two countries in the Pan-American ranking, Brazil first and Chile second”.
“These two teams represent continents in this World Cup. Holland and Slovenia go to Europe. Egypt representing Africa, India representing Asia, We are going to unite four continents,” he said.
Similarly, Alexis said it was the first time the tournament was held at an official level. “This is the first official World Championships. but this is the sports formula.
International convention preparation
Caballero emphasized that as a team, they are training to arrive in good shape to qualify for an event that brings together the best teams in the field.
Paralympic athlete said: mixed sport Four players per team compete in this World Cup. There are 7 males and 3 females in total. And we are all going to the World Cup. ”
“The calendar is already defined. Debut on the day Thursday, September 22nd , the Netherlands in the morning and India in the afternoon of the same day.Then play against Egypt and Slovenia in vI played against Brazil on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th,” he added.
lack of sponsorship
Regarding the sponsorship of the sport, Alexis revealed that he has only spoken to two organizations to help fund the costs needed to reach Egypt. Where to call to help and cooperate, So that you can reach a Middle Eastern country without heavy luggage.
In this connection, the athlete said: “The Paralympic Committee and the sports associations put up most of the money to get there. But when he reached the country, over budget We have to make a difference because they have. ”
“There is no other company or brand that would fund us other than them. And it becomes difficult for us to do raise 3 million We need to get there,” Caballero pointed out.
finally a rival The Paralympic Games recruited people who were unfamiliar with the sport and those who wanted to contribute So that the representatives of each country can reach Cairo.
Alexis commented:handball wheelchair chilewhere you can find campaigns in development to raise funds. The beginning of this sport, but it is already becoming popular. The League of Nations is already taking this seriously, and Chile’s participation is important. ”
“We measure ourselves and compare ourselves to the level of other countries on other continents, and if we do well at the World Cup, we qualify for the next competition. A big goal is for this discipline to be included in the Paralympic program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” he concluded.
Source: Biobiochile