The Provincial Council of Almería has presented in the Moisés Ruiz Pavilion the Spanish individual petanque championship to be held in the municipality of Vélez Rubio from the 19th to the 21st of April. This important event will bring together nearly a thousand people in the municipality and its surroundings.
This was announced by the Deputy of Sports, Healthy Living and Youth, José Antonio García; the president of the Spanish Federation of Petanque, Antonio Pérez; the Councillor for Sports of Vélez Rubio, Francisco Egea, during the presentation of the Championship of Spain Individual. The vice-president of the Andalusian Petanque Federation, Francisco Romero, was also present.
The Sports Deputy thanked and acknowledged the «great work of the Spanish Petanque Federation in the province of Almeria. The province and the people of Almeria have a great connection with pétanque.
«This championship is important because we are going to place the municipality of Vélez Rubio as the capital of pétanque at national level during this weekend. It is important to fight across the board against depopulation and to support small towns, and sport must play a leading role,» added García.
Antonio Pérez highlighted the importance of this competition to be held in Vélez Rubio because «it is the only championship held in Spain that gives access to the European and World Championships. The champions of this championship will have a direct place in these competitions, which is why it is so important».
Finally, the Sports Councillor thanked the Spanish Petanque Federation and the Provincial Council of Almeria who have put the municipality of Velez Rubio on the map of Spain. «We are committed to sport».
In this competition there will be three categories: male, female and youth. In total, for each category, there will be 32 participants, making a total of 96 athletes in this national tournament.
The championship will begin on Friday 19 April with a dinner for all participants, delegates, coaches and presidents of territorial federations. Afterwards, a draw will be made to determine the pairings. On Saturday, the competition will start with the Swiss system and the 16 competitors will fight to reach the final. On Sunday, the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the grand final will be played in the three categories.
All the Autonomous Communities will be represented in this tournament. The Federation awards places at regional level to complete the 32 places in each category.
The president of the Spanish Petanque Federation has stressed that this championship is unique because it unifies all licensed athletes. In addition, in the junior category, the pairings will be mixed.