Two world champion boxers and two different life stories. Angie Valdez and Yeni Arias raised the name of their country at the Women’s World Cup in New Delhi (India) and took a big step towards the goal and decided to dedicate themselves to the sport of boxing: raising their families.
Angie fights for her brothers and Yeni for her 13-year-old son. Their constant trips, their concentration and the equipment of different tournaments prevent them from devoting more time than they want to their loved ones.
Both in Barranquilla on Wednesday were telling the details of their World Cup event. They were accompanied by their coach Rafael Iznaga, who was recognized by Arias because, in his own words, “it is not easy to support with nine women in the National Team”, as happened to Cubano, who adds another. three silver medals in the World Cup with Yuberjen Martínez, Jessica Caicedo and Íngrit Valentia.
Angie Valdez couldn’t hold back tears as she recalled the sacrifices she made to excel in this difficult game. One of them was when he spent two months in Azerbaijan after being offered $1,200 a month to represent this country, which gave him a visa, passport and nationality.
At that time, he was left out of the Colombian National Team and had no choice but to accept the situation due to the financial difficulties of his family. As if that were not enough, then the mother was robbed of her freedom.
“When my mother gave me the strength, the will, she did not allow me to throw in the towel. It’s a tough, contact sport, but when I feel like I can’t take it anymore, I think about my son and go ahead of him. It gave me resistance,” said Yeni Arias, whose son is coached by coach John Franklin Granata or his sister while he competes.
“Angie has the balls to deliver to women and men,” said Iznaga, who looked to be a champion in 2019 in Barranquilla. The Cuban also compared the feelings of Yeni Aria with the former champion of Fidel Bassa.
The next objective of these fights are the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile (both this year) and securing a place in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
“This team has to produce results, I believe that if they give us the tools we could reap the victories. There were those who criticized that we sent a large team, they did not have faith in us, but the works and the results in us. It shows that we were right to send this team. They told us that we only have two athletes that the others would go to walk. We do not do sports tourism, that is pulled out. We could participate in 12 categories and we did in the ninth year, because Iznaga said that he could move with these in six Olympic categories, “Alberto Torres, president of the Colombian Boxing Federation said.
