MADRID, 9 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish women’s wheelchair basketball team will face from this Saturday the challenge of the World Championship that Dubai hosts until June 20 and where it has the objective of continuing to gain more international experience in order to try to be in the Games again Paralympics in Paris next year.
Spain is excited about an appointment, which was to be held last November and which was postponed due to its coincidence with the Qatar World Cup, and with the mission of trying to equal or improve the seventh place achieved in its last participation in 2018 .
And although in this championship there is a distribution of places for Paris 2024, where the number of participants has been reduced from twelve to eight, which makes the ticket even more expensive, the national team has its sights set on the European Championship in Rotterdam (Netherlands). in August, where she will defend her historic bronze medal that she won in Madrid in 2021 and which demonstrated the qualitative leap of the Spanish women.
Spain will have some news regarding that success. Adrián Yáñez is no longer the coach and his position is occupied by Frenchman Frank Belen, one of his assistants and current UCAM Murcia coach, while although the block of players is the one that has been competing together for a long time, two important players will be missing like Almudena Montiel and, above all, Vicky Pérez, the best at an offensive level and on leave due to her upcoming maternity leave.
Sonia Ruiz, Bea Zudaire, Lourdes Ortega and Vicky Vilariño (UCAM Murcia), Sara Revuelta (CD Ilunion), Agurtzane Egiluz and Naiara Rodríguez (Zuzenak), Michell Navarro (Amivel), Isa López (Santo Stefano), Uxía Chamorro (Iberconsa Amfiv), Paola Sindy Ramos (IMF Smart Education Getafe) and Laura Ugarte (Zuzenak), these three last news.
In addition, the group in which the team has fallen is difficult since it was framed with two of the favorites such as Great Britain, current runner-up and rival this Saturday of the debut, and China, which was fourth in 2018, in addition to other powers such as Canada and Australia, while the most affordable rival seems to be Brazil. The other group is made up of Algeria, the United States, Thailand, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands, defending champions.
“Our group is very balanced, but there are three teams that are a little stronger, such as Canada, China and Great Britain, that will probably play to reach the final. We are going to play against Brazil and Australia to be quarterfinals. group and go to the quarterfinals, which is our first goal”, said Belen in a video on the ‘BSR Spain’ account.
The coach hopes for a good result and to go “as far as possible”. “I hope we enjoy the moment of playing with the best teams in the world now and we hope to win as many games as possible,” the Frenchman wished.
“Despite the absence of two experienced players who are very important to the squad, our players have shown very interesting things since the start of the concentration in Madrid. Either because of the group spirit or because of the game philosophy that we try to implement , the team is showing a real desire to work together,” he warned.
Belen is “aware of the difficulties” they will have “to reach the quarterfinals”, but firmly believes that “this team has the necessary resources and will to overcome adversity”. “We must develop a more attacking game and not rely solely on our defensive qualities,” said the coach.
For her part, Sara Revuelta also acknowledges that “the sensations” during the concentration are being “very positive”. “In the few days that we have had we have been increasing and improving every day. The truth is that we already have a great desire to compete and of course with the desire to continue working and to give the bell another World Cup,” he said.