Five athletes from the Algarve club “Arena Faro” reached the podium in the Kickboxing World Championship that took place from 1 to 5 November in Kemer (Turkey).
Rafael Ruiz, senior, and Tomé Cabrita, junior, won two gold medals in Full Contact (Ringue).
Senior Inês Mendonça won gold in the Light Contact discipline (Tatami). Still in the ring discipline, Joana Gonçalves, also a senior, won silver and Andrej Djukic took 3rd place.
For Walter Pestana, head coach of the club from Faro, «this result was a very difficult bet, as it was the first time that I did not accompany my athletes and it was a very difficult situation for everyone».
«But, from the moment they started to participate in the work of the selection, I realized that we had to do everything in our power for these athletes to achieve a good performance in the World Cup and we did it: we trained hard every day, many hours a day, with a lot of psychology and positive reinforcement, so that when they were on stage at the World Cup they would know how to manage their emotions and achieve the goals set», he adds.
The Kickboxing World Cup was attended by athletes from 37 countries.
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