The Venezuelan fencing team that participates in the XIX Bolivarian Games of Valledupar gave a blow of authority this Friday by winning its first two gold medals. One in sword with Gabriel Lugo and the other in saber with Shia Rodríguez.
Lugo, after defeating Peruvian Eduardo García in the semifinal, won the gold medal for his country by beating Colombian John Rodríguez. The New Granadan failed to defend the title he achieved in Santa Marta 2017.
It was a vibrant and hotly contested match that took place in the Great Hall of the Country Club. Here the heat was another obstacle for the athletes. The adversary was always above Rodríguez, who had taken the Venezuelan Rubén Limardo out of the way in the semifinal. The latter, Olympic champion of sword in 2012 and the owner of the bronze in Valledupar, finally.
With 24 seconds to go, Lugo’s aggressive approach was rewarded to turn history around and celebrate his 13-15 victory.
«This is my first gold in my second participation in a Bolivarians. It was a difficult meeting. The Colombian opponent was always up by three touches, but I was able to recover to win the competition.” This is how the new Bolivarian champion expressed it to the press.
Venezuela conquers with Gabriel Lugo and Shia Rodríguez its first two golds in fencing
To round off the day in favor of the Venezuelan delegation, Shia Rodriguez He was relentless with the Dominican Ysabel Valentín. Just as it happened in almost all the fights that he faced in Valledupar.
From the outset, the young native of the Mérida state submitted her rival with an 8-1, from which Valentín could not recover. In the end, he prevailed 15-9 to reaffirm himself as one of the figures of his country in the Colombian Caribbean city, where Venezuela has a delegation of 584 athletes in 44 modalities.
“I wanted to be crowned champion, I focused on the goal and achieved what I wanted so much for my country,” said Rodríguez.
On the opening day of the Bolivarians, the first gold medals in fencing were in the hands of the Colombian María Jaramillo and the Peruvian Lucas Lutar in the individual épée and foil events, respectively.
This Saturday again the Country Club will host competitions to deliver medals in men’s saber and women’s foil.
