ARGANDA DEL REY (MADRID), 20 Apr. (SportsFinding) –
The president of ACES Europe, Gian Francesco Lupattelli, has highlighted the “professional preparation” of Arganda del Rey in its candidacy for European City of Sport for 2024, after the visit of the Evaluation Committee of said body to the Madrid town that will find out if it is or not elected on April 28.
This was stated at a press conference with the mayor of Arganda del Rey, Guillermo Hita, and the Councilor for Sports, Eugenio Dionisio, at the ‘Casa Rosa’, in which the general secretary of ACES Europe, Hugo Alonso, also spoke.
Lupattelli has been “very satisfied” with the visit of ACES Europe to Arganda del Rey, which has taken place over two days, although he has preferred not to advance whether or not the municipality will obtain the title of European City of Sport.
In any case, the president of ACES Europe did want to highlight the “professional preparation” of Arganda del Rey in his goal of achieving said recognition.
“We cannot say anything now, but at ACES Europe we are very happy to visit Arganda del Rey and the Community of Madrid, where I remember that last year the city of Madrid was designated as the World Capital of Sport”, added Lupattelli.
For his part, Hugo Alonso has highlighted some of the sporting aspects of Arganda that have pleased the Evaluation Committee the most, among which he has cited the fact that 30 percent of the population of Arganda practices sports, the so-called Fusion Subscription put into march for the Department of Sports, volunteering and, above all, that 7.38% of the municipal budget of Arganda be allocated to sports, “when the average in Europe is around 3 or 4 percent.”
“On April 28 we will give the answer”, Alonso recalled, noting that, in the event that Arganda del Rey achieves recognition, “it must leave a legacy so that the sport goes into the DNA of the citizens of the town”.
“We do not want the award as a simple recognition, but ours is to continue growing through sport, to be even more ambitious,” Guillermo Hita said in this regard, who has been “optimistic” about the possibility that Arganda del Rey will be designated as European City of Sport 2024.
Iván Leal, five times world champion and current Spanish karate coach, was present at the press conference held at the Casa Rosa, as well as a delegation of karate fighters made up of the Puerto Rican Janessa Fonseca, the Dutch Lynn Snel and Robin Van Wezel, the Spanish Babacar Seck and the Brazilian Douglas Brose, three-time world champion.
The ACES Europe Evaluation Commission is made up of Gian Francesco Lupattelli and Hugo Alonso, as well as other members of this non-profit association such as John Swanson, Scotsman, vice-president of the association, Frenchman Robert de Vita, president of ACES France, the Slovak Andrea Junger, member of the Board of Directors of ACES Europe, and Spanish Antonio Garde, vice president of ACES Spain and delegate of ACES Europe for Africa.