Nadia Comaneci attends the 1st Mexican Gymnastics Open Championships premiere in Acapulco, Mexico
The Mexican Gymnastics Open Championships’ first edition took off on December 9, this year, in Acapulco. The two-day tournament comprised of mixed pairs competition.
Male and female gymnasts from Romania, Australia, Colombia, Japan, Canada, Russia, United States and Spain travelled to Acapulco, Mexico, to compete in the meet.
A press conference – arranged on December 7, by the tournament’s General Director, Estella de la Torre, at the Fairmont Princess Hotel – marked the official beginning of the championships.
Three-time Olympic gold medallist, Nadia Comaneci, attended the press conference in the capacity of patron, while Cynthia Valdez was the guest of honour.
The two conducted the draw that determined the pairings between the nine male and seven female gymnasts for the event.
Understandably, two of the female gymnasts became a part of two pairs.
Australia’s Emily Little formed a pair with Mexico’s Santiago Lopez and another with the Russian gymnast, Sergey Khorokhordin.
Similarly, the Colombian gymnast, Catalina Escobar, was paired with Great Britain’s Daniel Purvis as well as with Japan’s Masahiro Yoshida.
Other pairings were:
Jorge Hugo Giraldo (Colombia) and Mikaela Dawn Gerber (Canada) Daniel Corral (Mexico) and Mai Yamagishi (Japan) Danell Leyva (United States) and Christine Jennifer Lee (Canada) Rafael Martinez (Spain) and Ksenia Afanaseva (Russia) Marius Daniel Berbecar (Romania) and Yessenia Estrada (Mexico)
The host country participants, Daniel Corral and Santiago Lopez, will also be representing Mexico at the pre-Olympic trials. This fact was revealed by the Chairman of Mexican Gymnastics Federation, Gustavo Salazar, during the press conference
Also present at the press conference were 1980s gold medallist, Yelena Davydova, and American Olympian, Bart Conner.
The following day, Comaneci was honoured by the local authorities at the Las Brisas hotel resort, where she was asked to leave her hand impressions in cement – a tribute reserved exclusively for the celebrities who visit Acapulco.
She will also be handed the keys to the city by the Mayor of Acapulco in the closing ceremony of the 1st Mexican Gymnastics Open Championships on December 10.
In the build-up to the event, the organisers also arranged for a memorable and engaging experience for the participating athletes and child cancer patients.
The Mexican Association, for the Assistance of Children with Cancer (AMANC), sent twenty kids, who were victims of cancer, to the participating gymnasts’ training camp.
It was an eye-opening and selfless gesture on the gymnasts’ part as they lent joy to the lives of these children.
In an interview on Wednesday, December 7, Comaneci reassured the public that the Mexican Gymnastics Open Championships will become a lasting tradition in the coming years.
Praise and appreciation is definitely in order for the organisers, specifically for the General Director Estella de la Torre, who made sure that the event was distinguished and memorable.
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