In an impeccably equipped field in the municipality of Salgar, a few kilometers from Barranquilla, the tie for the most exciting soccer championship Colombia has heard of is taking place.
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Its about South American championship for amputees, which seeks several quotas for the world championship to be held in Turkey next October and of which he will surely be part, judging by the result of the match on the opening day against Chile of our Colombia team.
To the event came the delegations from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and of course, Colombia, host country. They, the members of these teams, know by heart what it means to overcome and recover from any contingency.
They are linked by a common theme, having lost a limb and managing to turn this sport into a motor for improvement. The goalkeepers lost a hand or an arm and the other members of the team a leg in different episodes that once marked their lives forever.
(You can read: Linda Caicedo: the story of the star of the U-17 women’s team).
Candelario Donado is the captain of the Colombian national team, a stocky peasant who today works with SuperGIROS, a brand that has been betting on this sport for years and created the first team of this modality that existed in Colombia.
Donado was bitten by a snake on his left leg on his parents’ farm on the Atlantic coast about 20 years ago. The lack of timely medical attention caused the limb to become gangrenous and he was amputated to save his life.
It took him several years to recover his mobility and self-esteem, but the final push, according to him, was given by football, today he is one of the best of his quintet in which there are several more like him full of enthusiasm and desire to demonstrate that sometimes less is more.
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Sergeant Jorge Henao, who was wounded in a minefield in Cauca, and Gilberto Martinez, who was amputated from above the knee at the age of 10 due to cancer of the tibia, accompany Candelario on the team.
The goalkeeper of the Colombian national team lacks one eye and his right arm, but his reflexes are so developed that he wants to fly with what remains to stop balls that have twice the power of those thrown by a footballer because , according to the physical trainer of the national team, the strength of the non-existent leg is transferred to the one that remains, turning a shot into a real cannon shot.
📣💥Cúcuta in the Colombian amputee soccer team! We proudly want to highlight the talent of Alfonso Visbal, who traveled to the city of Barranquilla to participate in the South American Amputee Soccer Tournament, with the dream of qualifying for the World Cup in Turkey. pic.twitter.com/yaMb9N40F8
– IMRD CÚCUTA (@imrdcucuta) March 10, 2022
A similar thing happens with the rest of the South American teams, in which the common denominator in the loss of limbs due to traffic accidents, only the Colombian has the stamp of war.
What makes them identical is the joy with which these three-legged “gladiators” assume their sporting commitment, in each game they leave their skin on the field swinging on their crutches like a pendulum of emotion that comes and goes after a ball. who are looking for superior people.
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In the championship it is also present, of course, a professional Argentine referee, Luis Molinaan ex-military man who lost his left hand in a war accident and who does not need part of his limb to signal corner kicks, penalty points or goal kicks with total authority.
Molina became a professional referee before FIFA and today he travels the world whistling in games, especially for amputees, because according to him, no one understands this sport better than those who feel it firsthand.
The opening of this impressive championship, to complete the picture of emotions, was made by another person with a disability, the governor of the department of Atlántico, Elsa Noguera, who was born with an orphan disease that weakened her bones and forced her to use crutches permanently.
The image of the governor walking across the playing field turned the atmosphere into an exciting and closed applause from the thousands of attendees at the opening ceremony of this tie where a carnival was experienced.
“Limits do not exist, this shows that barriers are only in the mind” said an emotional Elsa Noguera as she threw her crutches onto the playing field and carried the Colombian flag surrounded by her team, which was slowly joined by the others in contention to shout with one voice for the life that sport gave them back.
The tie will end next Wednesday, March 25, when it will be known which South American teams will be present in Turkey in 7 months, a place in the world where all the teams in the world will meet, which have more than what others lack, among others. things the desire to win the game of life again.
(Keep reading: Colombia women’s team: the team that goes for the South American U-17)
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