Ainhoa Sousa Da Rocha, Iker Marín Latas, and Xiana López García will seek gold at the national championship of this Chinese martial art. Juan José López, coach at the Lugo Gym Olympuss, which is attending the Spanish Wu Shu and Sanda Championship, presents in this interview the three students who will represent the center.

Three students are attending the Spanish championship, held in Madrid this weekend. López explained they are the winners of the Galician championship, noting they had five qualifiers but three will travel as representatives of Lugo and Galicia. The participating athletes are Ainhoa Sousa Da Rocha, competing in Junior Women's Sanda Light, who was already Spanish runner-up last year; Iker Marín Latas in Senior Sanda category, who has been Spanish champion and runner-up; and Xiana López García, participating for the first time.

Regarding the sport's growth, López stated: 

"It is a growing sport, beautiful and complete, but it is not a mass sport like other martial arts such as judo can be. We have about 60 children who practice it and around 50 adults." When asked what makes it attractive to practitioners, he explained: "It is a martial art of Chinese origin that has a combination of judo, kickboxing and taekwondo. It is a combat modality."

The championship represents an important opportunity for these Galician athletes to demonstrate their skills on the national stage and potentially add to their previous competitive achievements in Spanish wushu competition.

Read more on www.elprogreso.es