Madrid Spain.- The former volleyball player, Abel Sarmientos, who was part of the Cuba team that was in the world elite in the 1980s, currently makes a living fixing shoes.
Forgotten by the authorities of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), the man from Camagüey also works as a custodian in a pharmacy.
In a recent interview with the newspaper workers, Sarmiento lamented that the Cuban authorities have not been concerned about his situation, despite his results in sports, including winning the 1989 World Cup.
“I’m still pa’lante, since I was born I’ve been doing it. I am not happy. I have complaints. No one from the National Commission for Athletes has come to my house. (…) Luckily the people love me, they know what I did as an athlete”, says the 60-year-old man.
In his statements he also explained that for years they have defamed him and accused him of being drunk.
“I spent many years in the national team, with results, later as a professor at the University of Physical Culture and Sports Sciences. Can an alcoholic do that?” says Sarmiento.
These rumors caused him to lose his job as a teacher. However, he refers, “she never approached any INDER or volleyball authority to complain.”
He also explained that he has been assigned a car for more than 20 years. “It broke down and they took away my fuel allocation. They said that I should take it to the Provincial Directorate of Sports. How do I do it? He broken and out of gas. `Take a picture of him,’ they tell me. I do it and they point out that it is not enough. I know there are those who did business with their cars. I do not. Who came to check how I have the car? No one, ”says the former athlete, who has remained into oblivion
Abel Sarmientos had reached the national pre-selection very young and in 1981 he was a member of the Cuba team that competed in the XI World University Games based in Romania. In 1992 he competed in the Barcelona Olympics.
He had as teammates other Cuban volleyball figures such as Ihosvany Hernández, Rodolfo Sánchez, Manuel Torres, Raúl Diago and Joel Despaign.
readers of workers who saw him play shared comments of praise, and others lamented his current situation.
“Tremendous star player. One of the best things he has ever experienced on the Cuban volleyball courts (…) I wonder if this great man cannot be helped”, says Eduard Vidaud.
While Carlos Sánchez pointed out that during his active stage he had played “all positions and with very good results”.
For her part, Odeymie Gómez wrote: “It is very sad to have to read these interviews, dealing with sports glories of this country. And since nobody is interested in things like that, it is that our athletes today desert so as not to look like them, left in oblivion. It’s very unfortunate.”
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