Technical Visit – Santiago 2023

Text by Santiago 2023 Communications Area

THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF THE BADMINTON PAN AMERICA CONFEDERATION (BPAC), GERMÁN VALDEZ, WAS IN SANTIAGO VISITING THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE RACKET AND SHUTTLE SPORT.

In the absence of 16 months for the start of the Pan American Games, the field inspections of the international technical delegates of each of the 39 sports in competition continue and this week it was the turn of the Peruvian Germán Valdez, in charge of the badminton discipline .

The former badminton player and coach of his country in his time, and now an executive of the continental confederation, came to the Chilean capital to observe the facilities of the “Marlene Ahrens” Olympic Training Center (CEO) in the Ñuñoa district, a venue chosen as the setting for this discipline in Santiago 2023.

“We visited the facilities and it is a fabulous setting, with all the renovations that are being worked on, it will be optimal not only for the Games, but for any important event that Chile wants to hold, its dimensions are very good and above all, the facilities that it will have”, he commented on the space.

Regarding what will be the competition in the largest continental multi-sport fair, Valdez noted that “the dominance in women is exercised by the northern countries, especially Canada, however, in men, in addition to the Canadians, there is the Guatemalan Kevin Cordón, Semifinalist in Tokyo 2020, and Salvadoran Uriel Canjura, now Bolivarian champion, are players whit expectation.”

CHILE’S OPTIONS
The technical delegate also commented on the importance of major events to massify sports in the host countries.

“In the first place, it is about making badminton more popular and we are working on that with the federation and organization of the Games, and that local people support their athletes like Alonso Medel, who has already had outstanding performances in previous events and we hope that, together with the rest of the selected ones, they can have advances in Santiago 2023”, he pointed out.

The qualification for the event in Chile is based on a general ranking of the countries, which add points according to the best positioned in each of the five modalities: singles and doubles in both genders, plus mixed doubles. Based on this ranking, the national representations can have from one to eight representatives, until completing the quota of 90 female and male athletes.

Badminton has been part of the Pan American Games since Mar del Plata 1995 and the specific medal table is dominated by Canada, the United States and Guatemala. At the Olympic level, it has been included in the program since Barcelona 1992 and it is the Asian exponents – China, Indonesia and South Korea – who have monopolized the gold medals.

Know here all medalists at Pan Am Games

Photo Credit: Santiago 2023