COE President Alejandro Blanco hails Spanish dominance of AWBG 2019
COE President Alejandro Blanco. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
DOHA, October 17, 2019 – Spain claimed first place in the ANOC World Beach Games 2019. The European country won 10 medals; seven gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals. Brazil won two more medals than Spain, but could only manage five golds. The President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, was present throughout the event in Doha, being a direct witness of the successes of the Spanish athletes.
He is obviously delighted with Spain's performance: “We are very happy to have been a large team, the third with more representatives of the whole event and also happy for the performance of the athletes. Since the first day we have been the first on the medal table, that is to say it could not have been better.”
The first two Spanish gold medals in these ANOC World Beach Games came from Damián Quintero and Sandra Sánchez in karate, a discipline that feature at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, but not in Paris 2024.
Alejandro Blanco affirms that the COE has to accept the decisions taken by the Assembly of the International Olympic Committee and adds that for Spanish sport it is very valuable that karate will be in Tokyo 2020: “I am convinced that after next Games, karate, in the not too distant future, will once again return to the Olympics.”
After the golds in karate kata came those from aquathlon, where Kevin Viñuela and Xisca Tous dominated their races and achieved another double for Spain. But they were not satisfied with it and the next morning they scored another gold medal in the Aquathlon mixed relay event. The last two gold medals for the Spanish delegation were added by Antomi Ramos and Gerard Rodríguez in the men’s beach tennis doubles, and the women’s beach soccer team. Also remarkable is the silver medal won by the Spanish Men’s Beach Handball Team, as well as the bronze medals achieved by Pedro Jacinto García in beach wrestling and Julia Benedetti in skateboarding.
The President of the Spanish Olympic Committee predicts a great future for the ANOC World Beach Games: “I do not know if it will reach the category of the Olympic Games, but without any doubt there will be more and more participation and it will be a great reference for all athletes in the world.”
“It was sensational. These games have been organized in a very short space of time and yet the organization, like all those that Qatar does, has been a success for the Qatari,” says Alejandro Blanco. This is one more step for this country located in Western Asia, which in recent years has become one of the major organizers of sporting events and will have, as its main dish, the organization of the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Finally, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee makes a brief assessment of the state of Spanish sport: “The results of each weekend allow us to be optimistic, without ceasing to be realistic.
"The results are improving with respect to other Olympic cycles and we hope to take a great team to Tokyo 2020 and continue being very proud of the successes of Spanish sport,” Blanco concluded.
He is obviously delighted with Spain's performance: “We are very happy to have been a large team, the third with more representatives of the whole event and also happy for the performance of the athletes. Since the first day we have been the first on the medal table, that is to say it could not have been better.”
The first two Spanish gold medals in these ANOC World Beach Games came from Damián Quintero and Sandra Sánchez in karate, a discipline that feature at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, but not in Paris 2024.
Alejandro Blanco affirms that the COE has to accept the decisions taken by the Assembly of the International Olympic Committee and adds that for Spanish sport it is very valuable that karate will be in Tokyo 2020: “I am convinced that after next Games, karate, in the not too distant future, will once again return to the Olympics.”
After the golds in karate kata came those from aquathlon, where Kevin Viñuela and Xisca Tous dominated their races and achieved another double for Spain. But they were not satisfied with it and the next morning they scored another gold medal in the Aquathlon mixed relay event. The last two gold medals for the Spanish delegation were added by Antomi Ramos and Gerard Rodríguez in the men’s beach tennis doubles, and the women’s beach soccer team. Also remarkable is the silver medal won by the Spanish Men’s Beach Handball Team, as well as the bronze medals achieved by Pedro Jacinto García in beach wrestling and Julia Benedetti in skateboarding.
The President of the Spanish Olympic Committee predicts a great future for the ANOC World Beach Games: “I do not know if it will reach the category of the Olympic Games, but without any doubt there will be more and more participation and it will be a great reference for all athletes in the world.”
“It was sensational. These games have been organized in a very short space of time and yet the organization, like all those that Qatar does, has been a success for the Qatari,” says Alejandro Blanco. This is one more step for this country located in Western Asia, which in recent years has become one of the major organizers of sporting events and will have, as its main dish, the organization of the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Finally, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee makes a brief assessment of the state of Spanish sport: “The results of each weekend allow us to be optimistic, without ceasing to be realistic.
"The results are improving with respect to other Olympic cycles and we hope to take a great team to Tokyo 2020 and continue being very proud of the successes of Spanish sport,” Blanco concluded.
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