The tennis player from El Palmar, praised at the regional sports gala in Cartagena, is “healthy”, with “energy, desire and motivation”
His arrival was delayed fifteen minutes. The same happened to Pedro Acosta, the other great protagonist of the 40th edition of the sports gala of the Murcia region. But when Carlos Alcaraz showed up at the door of the El Batel Auditorium, accompanied by his father, his agent Albert Molina and his physical trainer Álex Sánchez, the madness was unleashed. The children of the Cartagena Tennis Club school and many young athletes from rhythmic gymnastics, basketball, judo, track and field, cycling, futsal and sailing were there. Everyone wanted a picture with the world tennis prodigy.
It was difficult for Alcaraz to get to his seat, who yesterday personally met a Pedro Acosta who was also widely cheered by the crowd as he went up to receive his trophy. The third winner as the best Murcian athlete of 2021 was missing, a Mo Katir who is already preparing for the outdoor season. The athlete from Muleño was not present at the meeting and also did not send a video of thanks, something that Seville football player Rafa Mir, awarded for his Olympic silver with the football team at the Tokyo Games. His mother, Cristina Vicente, accepted the award for him. Katir has not sent anyone to receive him on his behalf.
More than 1,000 people attended a gala organized by the General Directorate for Sport of the Autonomous Community and the Association of Sports Presses of the Region of Murcia. It was excessively long and had moments of chaos, such as when Jesús Álvarez, the mythical TVE journalist, took the stage to award prizes to all the Murcians who were at the Olympics last summer and many problems arose. Between confusion and the comings and goings of one and the other, the presenters Teresa García and Fran Sáez have suffered a lot to get out of trouble. There were too many prizes, too many photos and there was a lack of rhythm. The most special moment came when Cristina Pérez (indoor football), Jesús Izquierdo (football referee) and Mari Cruz Gómez (basketball coach) were awarded, athletes who are health professionals and have been on the front row during the worst of the pandemic.
As for the speeches, the climax came at the end, when Alcaraz spoke not least of his favoritism to win Roland Garros, a tournament that starts this Sunday in Paris. “I said I wanted to win a Grand Slam this year and I’m going for it in Paris. It will be difficult, but I see myself with options to achieve it,” said the tennis player from El Palmar, much to the delight of an audience that adores him. He is already an idol of the masses and that became clear again last night at El Batel.
Before entering the main auditorium hall, in statements to the journalists waiting for him at the door, Alcaraz had already said that he felt “ready” to lift the Musketeers Cup within two weeks. “I’m feeling better and better and I feel energized and eager, knowing that I have my options and that I have to continue on the same lines as the last tournaments,” he said. He confirmed he is “healthy”, having practically recovered from the right ankle sprain he sustained in the Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finals against Rafa Nadal that prevented him from competing in the tournament in Rome.
“I didn’t think I’d be third of the year and fighting to be first at this point, even though one of my goals was to be on top at the end of the season. I’m very happy with how things are going,” added Alcaraz, who called Fernando López Miras, president of the community, “Capitán Garfia” because of his middle name. “Mothers are very important and no one remembers them. Bravo to the President , who appreciates the figure of Virgina Garfia, Carlos’s mother,” intervened Fran Sáez, host of the event.
Carlos Alcaraz had a few words before the event held in Cartagena last night to Rafa Nadal, who had a bitter experience in Rome last week due to his chronic foot injury. “It hurts to see Rafa Nadal suffering with the sport he loves. Obviously he doesn’t like seeing Rafa suffer like that and it hurts me too. I hope and wish that he recovers and that he competitive,” he said of the Balearic champion. Nadal will fly to Paris today, while Alcaraz will travel tomorrow. Facing the draw for the final table at Roland Garros, which will take place tomorrow, Alcaraz said he had no preferences. Novak Djokovic is the all-time favorite for the title on Parisian clay, especially after his triumph in Rome last week, but Alcaraz defeated the Serb in Madrid and is at stratospheric level.Björn Borg, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Michael Chang Pete Sampras and Rafa Nadal are the only tennis players to have won a Grand Slam before the age of 20.
Alcaraz hadn’t played in Paris since last November when he lost to Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the Paris-Bercy tournament, a painful defeat in which he was swept away by his rival in a very hostile environment who surprised him first and put him ahead of the curve. full afterwards. “That meeting crossed my mind, but I hope that experience will help me so that something like this doesn’t happen to me again. I know that if I meet another Frenchman at Roland Garros, it will be the same or worse,” he said.
Less talkative was Pedro Acosta, Moto3 World Champion, who attended the event with his parents and sister. He is not doing well this year, but he is ‘calm’. Little by little, he sees the light at the end of the tunnel and is “confident” that “the results will come soon”. The ‘Shark of Mazarrón’ recalled that ‘in Moto3 everything was very fast and in Moto2 it takes longer. But I always say that things come when they need to come.
The best Murcian athlete of 2021 was the international referee María Dolores Martínez Madrona, who defended the work of the referees beautifully. “There is no match without a referee,” he emphasized. She wanted to be a football player and due to an injury she became a referee, thanks to the advice of her father, who nodded excitedly from his seat in the fifth row of the hall. “One of the things that invites me to continue in this is the encouragement that the youngest sends me. I invite all girls and boys to take the refereeing course and try it out. I never thought I would dedicate myself to this and it makes me very happy,” he added.
For his part, the president of FC Cartagena, Paco Belmonte, received the prize for the best sports management. Agustín Ramos, his namesake at Real Murcia, saw him from the third row. “Here we are all from Efesé. The president of Real Murcia too,” joked Cartagena’s mayor Noelia Arroyo. Ramos raised his eyebrows in surprise. The port city also hosted the gala for the first time in its 40-year history.
Fermín Aldeguer, Daniel Cegarra, Jairis de Alcantarilla, the stage of the Vuelta a España that finished in La Manga, UCAM, María Iglesias Carbonell and Rafael Alcázar took home the rest of the evening’s top prizes.
Source: La Verdad
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