2023-11-19 21:22:16
Yunier Fernández has faced more windmills than Don Quixote. And he has defeated them all! But winning his second crown in table paratennis, at the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, was not as easy as someone might think, but rather the reward for an unbreakable will.
At first it seemed that that pool with a low water level, into which the young Physical Culture and Sports student jumped without knowing, was going to drown his future. He would never walk again. The mills wanted to intimidate him.
However, with treatment and tenacity, he managed to overcome it: probably that ordeal fueled his determination not to let himself be defeated.
The initial tears, pain and grief over the unfortunate accident led him to choose between the path of living frustrated… or growing, even above the life he had planned before.
The boy from Guanajay even became an outstanding athlete. He won medals in the Parapan American Games. And, once again, there were mills that challenged him: in the 2007 event, in Rio de Janeiro, he only touched gold; in Guadalajara 2011, he finished in bronze; in Toronto 2015, when he was almost… the medal was silver again.
Anyone else would have given up. Not Yunier. He persevered in his beautiful madness of giving life dreams. He showed up at Lima 2019 with the racket as a buckler on his arm, and fulfilled his desire to be a champion.
Now, in Santiago de Chile 2023, everyone considered him the favorite, only before claiming his right to the throne he had to defeat each challenger.
He debuted against the American Michael Godfrey with a resounding 3-0 (11-7, 11-5 and 11-5). He still swept Argentine Fernando Eberhardt 3-0 (11-7, 11-6 and 11-8). He overcame the resistance of José Bustamante 3-2 (9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 6-11 and 11-2), another from the land of San Martín.
Then he did not believe that his opponent Vicente León was Chilean, that the rest of the tables were already empty and the entire host audience rallied in pursuit of their representative’s victory. He even gave her a point in the fifth set, in the name of fair play, when the South American coach claimed an alleged error by the referee.
Even so, he defeated him in three sets 11-8, 11-6 and 11-5. In fact, he only lost two sets in the tournament.
Mainoldis Cordero Martínez’s husband will soon return home, with the pride of having brought Cuba the first title in the Games, in the TT1 category of table paratennis. This is her fifth Parapan American medal, and it gives her a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic event.
Yunier Fernández has faced many trials in his life. The mills are no longer there, Yunier is.
#mills #longer #Yunier