After almost 14 years of sports career, Uriel Canjura, an athlete from our Effort and Glory Program, fulfills one of his greatest dreams and writes another historic page for sports by becoming the first representative of Salvadoran badminton to obtain a direct place in some Olympic Games.
Uriel was nine years old when he started practicing badminton in the dirt yard of his house, located in the municipality of Suchitoto, Cuscatlán. He never imagined that, 14 years and seven months later, he would be the first Salvadoran athlete to achieve the title. Paris.
“My stepfather (Antonio Ardón) brought home some rackets and some shuttlecocks to the patio of the house and I was surprised to see them and I wanted to know what the sport was like. He was in charge of the club in the area and had the idea of putting a net in the yard, he marked the court on the ground and that was our space. My friends and I played on Saturdays for fun, that’s how I started,” Canjura recalled in an interview with INDES.
The national reported that his first experience was so good because all the children beat him and it was very sad. “I came out crying and told my mother that I would not stop until I became number one in El Salvador, and that was it.”
On the verge of turning 24, the athlete, originally from Suchitoto, will represent the country in the greatest Olympic sports festival, a desire that was established in his mind little by little and came to fruition this Saturday with the silver medal obtained in the XXVII Yonex Pan Am Individual Championships Guatemala 2024.
He obtained the medal by losing the final against the Guatemalan Kevin Cordón, but this time it was not just any silver, but rather it was the medal that allowed him to add 5,950 points to the Olympic ranking and secure his name among the 32 qualifiers for Paris 2024.
“I am excited, very excited, it was a difficult match against Kevin (Cordón), a player with a lot of experience, but I am happy because this secures my qualification for Paris 2024 and I want to assimilate that first. Thank God that it was a medal for El Salvador,” Canjura commented to Bádminton Pan Am.
Canjura represented the country at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games and, in July 2024, he will do so at the biggest sports festival on the planet as a senior athlete.
In his sports career, Canjura has had the support of the National Sports Institute (INDES) through the Effort and Glory Program, as well as additional support for competitions, training sessions and training bases.
Qualifying for Paris is not a coincidence but is one of the goals set by the athlete a couple of years ago when he established himself as the greatest figure in this racket sport.
Canjura’s rise and international projection gained momentum with his participation in the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.
In 2019, Uriel played in the ranks of the Oviedo Badminton Club, Spain, with which he became champion of the Honor Division of the Top8 LaLiga Sport 2020-2021, after defeating the Pitius Badminton Club in the final series.
She also stood out by winning an individual silver medal and a silver medal in mixed doubles, along with Fátima Centeno, at the I Cali-Valle 2021 Junior Pan American Games.
Before qualifying for Paris, Uriel’s most recent achievement was the bronze medal at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games and in July he will add another page to his brilliant record.
The bronze in Santiago 2023 was a source of motivation for the athlete and gave him a better outlook for 2024.
“This medal lifted my spirits a lot and I began to see the classification closer and that I was one step away from achieving it,” he said.
“It has been a very great satisfaction and all the sacrifice has been worth it, the distances and the training that are hard, but everything has its reward and comes when it has to come,” added Canjura.
#playing #Suchitoto #participating #Paris #Diario #Página
