Inclusion, collective effort and sports for people with disabilities write a new page in the history of Canarian sports today. For the first time, the Canary Islands participates in the Spanish Championship by Autonomous Communities of Electric Wheelchair Hockey, a national event that is held this May 17 and 18 at the El Congost Municipal Pavilion, in the Catalan town of Granollers.
The Canarian team, made up of a talented and committed team, premiered in the competition this Friday the 17th with an intense day of meetings. At 11:30 Canarian time, they debuted against Catalonia, at 13.15 hours they played their second match against Madrid and at 16.45 they closed the qualifying phase with Valencia. The semifinals were played on Saturday at 08:30, and the grand final was at 10:30.
The Canarian team was made up of athletes Dailos Moreno, Diego Agustín, Gorgui Faye, Izan Camacho, Adrián Schwengber, Gabriel Padilla, Javier Roldán and Juan Escalera, under the technical direction of Sara Rodríguez and Miguel Jáuregui. This first participation is a milestone for electric wheelchair hockey in the islands.
"The scoreboard has not been favorable to them, but they have had a good time, and despite the difficulties of being a very novel team, they have been able to participate. The technicians told us that after 17 years a new autonomy is incorporated into the championship. So very happy for what they have achieved in this little time," says one of the mothers of the boys.
In addition, she says that "Fernando is Gabri's friend who started in Lanzarote, then he told Gabri and then came the team in Lanzarote, then the one in Gran Canaria. The thing is that Fer, due to his pathology, which is an aggressive degenerative disease, has not been able to continue playing and Gabri has taken the doll that symbolizes children with Duchenne and has asked to wear his Dorsal number. So Fer, although he has not been able to go, has been there."