Wheelchair fencing gains profile in Costa Rica

18/03/2020

Wheelchair fencing continues to go from strength-to-strength in Costa Rica as the latest in a series of promotional activities took place in February in the country’s capital of San Jose.

The sport was the only Paralympic discipline to be presented during the official delivery of scholarships and grants to national athletes by the Sports Ministry and National Sport Institute (ICODER) at the National Stadium.

In attendance were the President of the Costa Rica Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Henry Nunez Najera, and Sport Minister Hernan Solano Venegas.

Special guests, the President of the Republic of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado Quesada and First Lady Claudia Dobles Camargo, also attended to watch the wheelchair fencing presentation and have a go at the sport themselves.

Two wheelchair fencers shake hands after their demonstration bout

The able-bodied national team fencers took their turn to sit in the fencing chairs and share the Paralympic version of their sport to the gathered guests which included representatives of other national sport federations and the media.

The promotional activities in San Jose follow on from a series of workshops held for aspiring athletes in 2018 and 2019. The huge push to grow wheelchair fencing is being led by the Costa Rica Fencing Federation.

“We are very happy with the result of the activity,” said Alberto Cruz, the federation’s Technical Manager. “There is a lot of support and interest from our sport authorities, we will keep working on the development of our sport in our country, and hopefully organising other activities that could also benefit development in the Central American region.”