Damin Quintero: "The Krate looks very ugly for Los Angeles 2028"

The karate fighter from Malaga Damián Quintero, silver in the Tokyo Olympics, has indicated with resignation that the presence of Karate in Los Angeles 2028 "looks very ugly", after giving up the next 2024 in Paris.

"We don't have the answer on the table and we will never have it. We have to start working from the international federation, something that is obviously already being done, and that the strong national federations come together to try to get us into Los Angeles", Quintero stated in an interview with Efe on the track of the Navarra Arena, a stage that this weekend hosts the Karate 1 Series? TO.

He thinks that "perhaps we don't have to focus everything on the Olympic Games, but we should just do a self-criticism about our sport to make it more professional and more attractive to the public."

"The Navarra Arena is spectacular and the atmosphere too, despite the fact that right now it is difficult to fill the stands due to the covid issue. It is very relevant that a Serie A is played in Spain," said a man from Malaga who will set course today to Budapest to cheer on the Spanish handball team.

"I am going to take it easy in 2022. It has been a very long cycle and a lot of stress due to the Games," he comments on his aspirations for this year. "I will start competing in April if everything goes well, because really the most serious tournaments are the European tournament in May and the World Game, which is in July. I want to be in good shape and that's what I want to do this year," he stressed. .

Quintero has declared that he hopes to reach "100%" in the Lisbon Premier League, a tournament that will serve as "training and filming" ahead of the two most important events of the year.

With his presence in Pamplona, ​​the Spanish athlete is "delighted" to give his support and his "positive energy" to the Spanish team, "very young kids" among whom are teammates from the national team.

The karate fighter regrets not being able to be on the train that goes to Paris 2024, but he claims to continue ?in a cloud? after the silver medal in Tokyo thanks to the repercussion that his achievement had around the world.

"As a result of that, many collaborations have come out, the visibility that the media gives me is great and I am very grateful for it because in the end it comes in handy to continue a little in the wake," he noted about his current situation.

"In Kata you must show a bit of everything. Feeling, spirit, heart, technique, physical condition... all of this must be unified in two minutes on the tatami so that the referee gives you the highest possible score," says the current number. one of the world about his favorite sport.

Being an activity in which the person competes against himself, "training becomes very hard" by having to put "a lot of mental sacrifice", so Quintero chooses to rely on his? fans; my coach, psychologist, best friends and family" supports "indispensable for everything to flow, because medals are not achieved alone".

"Pamplona is well known worldwide for the parties that we all know, but it is good that it is known for events like this Serie A. It is good for Navarra and for Spain, for the good of our sport," he explains.

Regarding the Spanish participants in this tournament, Raúl Martín, Alejandro Manzana and Sergio Galán stand out in the Kata, while in the girls they do the same with Lidia Rodríguez, Raquel Roy. "There is a quarry behind. In many championships we are usually on the podium," he adds.

"Sandra and I are somewhat of the visible faces, but behind there are great boys and girls who are working very hard and who really are the ones who are going to stay with the witness. We hope that in the future they can live an Olympic experience", has wanted a Quintero who arrived yesterday in the Navarrese capital in what has been a lightning visit.