First modification:
Cuban women’s boxing has a short life but many hopes. This sport was authorized on the island in December 2022 and has a team of young people for whom their first victory was being allowed to enter the ring. Passing through Paris to go to a competition with their counterparts from France, Legnys Cala Massó, boxer in the 57 kilo category, and Alberto Puig de la Barca, president of the Cuban Boxing Federation, were in the Escala studio in Paris .
“Before practicing boxing, I practiced athletics, I was a jumper, long jump and triple jump. After having finished the gestation process, I wanted to stay in shape, and I went back to see if I could train outside at school. That’s when I realized He says that there were some girls who were practicing this sport. It’s not that I knew, nor did I get into boxing because I had a boxer relative, or anything. I got in because the girls were there.’ This is how Legnys Cala Massó relates his surprising beginnings in boxing. .
Since then, she has a millimeter routine to balance studies, training and her family life with her eleven-year-old daughter. A life with the ring that recently seemed impossible. The authorization of women’s boxing in Cuba dates back to the end of 2022, after long years of combat and effort
Alberto Puig de la Barca, president of the Cuban Boxing Federation, clarifies: “We had some fears, but as we got to know the world of women’s boxing, thanks to the investigations that had been carried out at that time by the IBA, the International Boxing Association and some research we did in our country, we came to the conclusion that women were not at any risk of joining this activity.”
Legnys Cala Massó will participate in one of the fights that will take place on September 16 in Tremblay, on the outskirts of Paris. A meeting organized with French boxers. “Due to the short time that Cuban women have been boxing, we are working with a lot of straight punches. Almost all the punches we throw are straight punches because we have difficulty executing another technique. But I think I do it quite hard, at least,” he says smiling.
Those who have been perfecting the technique for decades are their male counterparts. Boxers have accumulated no less than 78 medals in the Olympic Games medal table, of which 41 are gold. The discipline now has its sights set on Paris 2024.
“We have a young team; we have a team for the next Olympic cycle. But the most important thing is that we have already started women’s boxing at school ages. That is, we have a defined strategy, which will allow us to make the next cycle Olympic Games, let’s take more solid steps in women’s boxing,” warns the Cuban official.
Voices from inside and outside the island estimate that a lot of time was lost. The Olympic discipline of women’s boxing was introduced in London 2012. More than a decade ago.
Cuba has also changed its rules to authorize professional boxing. What does that change for Lagnys Cala Massó? “It changes in my life itself, in what I feel confident in, what I can convey, for example, to my daughter. I feel stronger, more determined. I feel more sure of myself.”
#Stopover #Paris #Legnys #Cala #count #Cuban #boxers #medals