The acting Councilor for Public Works and Sports of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Alfredo Mendoza, has responded to the accusations of the Canarian Coalition regarding the works on the wrestling ground and has denied that this space will be lost. "The word 'terrain' is being changed to 'field' in the wrestling ground. It will become a tatami," Mendoza said about the works carried out by the highest island institution.
"This is not a last-minute idea, it is a strategy on how to work with the youth academy," he explained on the morning show Buenos Días, Lanzarote. This wrestling ground has been closed for more than ten years and the Cabildo of Lanzarote has tried to offer it other uses with this new reform, replacing the sand with the tatami.
The acting councilor has announced that they have reached an agreement with the Insular Federation of Canarian Wrestling with the elaboration of an agreement to promote the base of Canarian wrestling on the island. Among the proposals, there are plans to promote this vernacular sport in the schools of Arrecife so that boys and girls can, during school hours, go to the wrestling field and learn about the tradition.
"This tatami wrestling field is part of that strategy," said the acting councilor. For students to be able to access the ground, Mendoza argues that it is easier for them to do so on a tatami and then be able to return to the classrooms without getting covered in sand.
At the same time, he added the importance of sports infrastructures for Lanzarote and Arrecife. As he explained in a radio interview granted to Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero, the municipality demands spaces to practice karate, keipo, judo and aikido, so this space will become a receiver of various sports.
Likewise, Mendoza has assured that he was "a wrestler for 20 years" and that he starts from the basis that wrestling should always be practiced in sand, but at this specific moment "we must prioritize the general interest because we are undervaluing a space that has been abandoned for ten years."
"The one who has ruined Canarian wrestling in Arrecife is the Canarian Coalition, which has done absolutely nothing. They have not even been able to do a sample on Canary Islands Day or at the past San Ginés festivities," the also elected councilor of Arrecife reproached Echedey Eugenio.
