The university pavilion has hosted the celebration of the Sports Gala 2022, which has praised the successes of the UV sportsmen and women in an exciting event full of distinctions and special mentions. The ceremony was presided over by the principal of the Universitat de València.
The UV offered, on Wednesday 2 November, a well-deserved recognition to its athletes at a gala attended by nearly 400 people, mostly university students. At the ceremony, the principal of the Universitat de València, Mª Vicenta Mestre, thanked the work that UVsports and its director, Ana Mª Gómez, are doing to “develop activities and schools in more than 80 sports modalities and to promote the talent of our athletes, in order to keep achieving success as we have been doing so far”.
As the principal explained, “this 2022 the Universitat de València has been the first public university in the medal table of the Spanish University Championships (CEU) and also of the Regional CADU. We have won a total of 260 medals during the last season”. It is also worth mentioning the participation figures: nearly 700 UV athletes competed in the regional championships, 300 fought for medals in the Spanish championships, and almost a hundred represented the UV in the European games. “And not only have we been leaders in participation, but we have also achieved great gender parity”, said Mª Vicenta Mestre.
The principal encouraged everyone to “continue working” because “sport is a fundamental part of the excellence of our academic institution”. Mª Vicente Mestre praised all the university athletes present at the gala, “you are a role model, with your sacrifice and tenacity, with your values, with the culture of effort as a standard... balancing competitive sport with studies is not easy and today we want to honour you, recognise the great merit you have and applaud your effort”, said the principal.
During the event, the 46 teams and individual athletes who won medals in university competitions during the last academic year were awarded. The 46 university teams that will represent the Universitat in the university tournaments of the upcoming season were also presented. To round off the event, the Universitat de València launched the programme “Canvi de Joc” (“Game Change”), a new audiovisual format for the dissemination of sport, which aims, with a dynamic and fresh style, to represent and support university sport.
Before the Principal closed the Sports Gala 2022, the director of the Sports Service, Ana Mª Gómez, took the stage to recognise the merit of the athletes, highlighting “the effort and excellence of all the young people who train, study and compete, who strive to excel every day”.
The ceremony was attended by various authorities of the Universitat de València: the manager of the UV, Juan Vicente Climent Espí; the deans of the faculties of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, Ferran Calabuig Moreno; Pharmacy, Hortensia Rico Vidal; Nursing and Podiatry, Antoni Merelles Tormo; Psychology and Speech Therapy, Antonio M. Ferrer Manchón; Physiotherapy, Sofía Pérez Alenda; and Medicine and Dentistry, Francisco J. Chorro Gascó; the vice-dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ramón Llopis Goig; the principal's delegate for the student body, Manuel González-Ferrandis; the principal's delegate for the Language Centre, Pedro Morillo; and the head of the Sports Service, Fernando Sánchez Carmen. On behalf of the Valencian Department of Education, Research, Culture and Sports, the event was attended by the head of the Sports and Physical Activity Promotion Service, Hermenegildo Puchades Company. Finally, representing the Municipal Sports Foundation of the Valencia City Council was Juan Antonio Pardo.
Watch the full gala again
