Mario Kindelán, former Cuban boxer and two-time Olympic champion, denounced the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) for not being interested in its athletes, this after learning that the institution hid favorable job opportunities abroad.
According to the athlete, who conducted an interview with reporter Julita Osendi, he is in Bahrain, in the Middle East, where he arrived through personal efforts after the Grappling Club contacted him to train. to their boxers.
As stated, this had been the goal of this club on several occasions, for which they contacted INDER, which never notified the athlete.
“It turns out that the boxing federations of this country had repeatedly contacted INDER executives to hire me and both in Holguín and in Havana they assured that I was not available, that if they wanted they would send another trainer,” he told Osendi. .
Kindelán said that he was contacted directly through the Internet, and that, otherwise, he would not have known of the interest that the Bahrain sports authorities had in him.
“They explained the conditions to me and of course I accepted. Two months later I was ready and when I got here I found out that they had shown interest in my work for a long time, but that they were calling INDER”.
The boxer indicated that the Cuban authorities seem to have no interest in their athletes, and that they were only taking into account their own benefit.
“It seems that the Cuban executives wanted Mario Kindelán to die under a bridge in the street, with no possibility of living as a human being.”
The athlete is happy about the opportunity, pointing out that he has been able to do things that he would never have been able to do in Cuba.
“In the short time that I have been here, I have already collected, bought with my salary, 20 pairs of gloves to send them to the EIDE in Holguín. They took my 7,400 pesos as an Olympic champion, but I do not forget my people, ”he added.
During the interview, Kindelán also spoke about his fight against the British Amir Khan, whom he defeated at the 2004 Athens Olympics, pointing out that this was yet another example that Cuban athletes are just puppets for Inder.
“I returned from Athens (2004) and I was inactive for eight months, without training. Then they tell me that Cuba had accepted a fight between the Englishman and me. You can imagine? I hadn’t seen any activity for eight months, that I hadn’t entered a ring, that I hadn’t done a weight, it’s more that I didn’t go to Havana. And of course my answer was a resounding no,” she said.
However, after refusing, the boxer received a visit from sports authorities, stating that the fight had to take place, since a part of the $250,000 that the regime was going to receive for the fight opportunity had already been collected. Money that, of course, had not mentioned the boxer before.
“American’s promoter, Frank Warren, had paid a quarter of a million dollars for that fight to the INDER organization; Of course, I didn’t know until then. I mean, they never counted on me: a puppet, or not? Incredible to an athlete like me, always faithful, what was it worth to me? They were going to endorse the money, just like that, without me knowing anything, ”he added.
He assured that since 2004, he has had nothing to thank Inder for, since he has never received any help since his last victories, to the point of having to sell the Olympic medals he won in Sydney and Athens in order to survive.
Lastly, while he recognized that Cuba had become a power in boxing, it has gone into a tailspin, largely due to the mismanagement shown by the sports authorities.
“Unfortunately, everyone, including the highest levels of the country, realize that the sport is in decline; There is corruption, theft from athletes, sending technicians who have no history abroad. And nothing happens”, concluded the boxer.
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