The paddle team will be leaded by Jorge Bellmont and will compete in Antequera (Málaga) from 17 to 20 of this month after it became the autonomic champion in the female category thanks to the couple composed by Elena Molina and Tamara Icardo and also the mixed one by Javier Rico and Paula Pastor.

Amparo López, who is the trainer of the tennis team, has stated that she will be travelling tomorrow to Villanueva de la Cañada in Madrid with six athletes. “The level in this CEU is high, but we got the golden medal in CADU so we face this championship with enthusiasm and we expect to get medals in the different events”, she said. She recognised that she aims to get at least the bronze medal in the team category, as they did last year. Tennis players competing in the CEU from 20 to 23 April are Raúl Gil in the male individual category; Andrea Cervera in female individual, Pedro Lizondo and David Sánchez in male doubles; Pedro Lizondo and Paula Álvarez in mixed doubles and Paula Álvarez and Beatriz Córcoles in female doubles.

At the same time the tennis CEU happens, the equestrianism CEU will also take place in Villanueva de la Cañada on 21, 22 and 23.

When it comes to the national taekwondo championship, it will be celebrated in Moralzarzal (Madrid) from 22 to 23. The UV will take part on the second day with a team composed by 11 athletes, from which six are female ─Olga Novillo (-46 kg), Nerea Gasulla (-49 kg), Alicia Ibáñez (-53 kg), Alicia Pérez (-62 kg), Lucía González (-67 kg) and Arantxa Benlloch (poomsae)─ and five are male ─Iván Redón (-58 kg), Alejandro Cabeza (-63 kg), Javi Chicote (-68 kg), Pau Gualda (-74 kg), Jaime Penades (+87 kg)─. Ten of them will compete in the combat modality and only one athlete will compete in the Poomsae (technic) modality. “Many of them are participating in the CEU for the first time and I hope this will be a great experience for every single one. We also count on this occasion with the Poomsae competition, which I find very interesting because it represents an improvement in university championships”, as stated by trainer Karina Reis, who will accompany the team along with their delegate Antonio Durbán.

The beach volleyball CEU will be the last one carried out this month. From 26 to 28 April, the Murcian city Santiago de la Ribera will hold the championship. The Valencian team will attend with high expectations after they made it to the podium on several occasions during the last autonomic championship, which was celebrated last weekend in Alicante. The male pair composed by Adrián Pastor and Ismael Luna got the golden medal whilst the silver one was for the mixed pair Sergi Forrat and Laura Julián and the bronze to the female pair Paula Company and Aurora Ubé.

Big expectations in football

Spanish University Championships (CEU) of male and female football will be celebrated at the same time and the same place. Football and CP football will be carried out in the sports centre of Las Rozas, Madrid, from 18 to 21 April. According to the Physical Education and Sports Service (SEF) of the Universitat de València, “the participation of both teams in the CEU tends to be regular in the last years”. Actually, the CP football team is “one of the most honoured for some time”. For example, last year it got the golden medal in Almería. “This year, our expectations are big as always and we have great chances to fight for the golden medal”, they stated.

On its part, the male football team of the Universitat “always played a significant role in the CEU championships”. In 2016, it also got the bronze medal in Almería. “This year, we have got a difficult team to compete with in the previous phase, but we expect that the UV team will play well and fight until the end”, the SEF stated.