With the aim of promoting and making visible the practice of table tennis among children and adolescents in the country, this Saturday an exhibition was held in the Metropolitan Park organized by the Luksic Foundation in conjunction with the Chilean Olympic Committee, the Chilean Table Tennis Federation and the Metropolitan Government.
Eleven selected and pre-selected conventional and Paralympic athletes participated in the initiative, who in addition to performing a professional demonstration of the discipline had the opportunity to play with the people who were visiting the Metropolitan Park of Santiago.
“Today we celebrate sport. We believe that sport is a tool for change, for the development of socio-emotional skills and a fundamental inspiration for communities,” explained Isabella Luksic, general manager of the Luksic Foundation.
Miguel Ángel Mujica, president of the Chilean Olympic Committee, expressed his gratitude for this type of sporting event. “The Luksic Foundation gives us the opportunity to have a better preparation for the athletes who will participate in the Pan American Games of Santiago 2023, which is a meeting point for the citizens”.
Along the same lines, Nicole Sáez, manager of regional Human Development of the Metropolitan Government, affirmed that “from high performance sports we seek to massify sports in the citizenship”.
In the activity participated the national selected table tennis players: Gustavo Gómez (all-competition category), Andrés Martínez (all-competition category), Jaime Lama (youth category), Álvaro Fuentes (youth category), Benjamín Suárez (youth category), Claudia Infante (pre-selected), Eusebio Vos (all-competition category).
“It is very nice to see people getting involved with table tennis, the sport promotes a healthy life, so I hope that this kind of activities will be repeated”, commented Gustavo Gomez, national table tennis selected player.
Also present at the event were the national Paralympics table tennis selected players: Ailyn Espinoza (class 10), Tamara Leonelli (class 5); Luis Flores (class 2); and Claudio Bahamondes (class 7).
“We are very happy to carry out this activity, which is very useful for the citizens to get to know us thinking about the Parapan American Games 2023. Promoting sports is the best thing to do,” said Tamara Leonelli, national Para Table Tennis selection.
The Luksic Foundation, through its Sports area, seeks to provide comprehensive opportunities through sports for educational, recreational, competitive and high performance purposes. Its mission is to encourage support for the practice of sports throughout the country and inspire people to have active and healthy lifestyles.
National Table Tennis League
This Saturday’s exhibition was also the kick-off of the National Table Tennis League, a tournament that will be held for the first time and involves 15 regions of the country. The objective of this league is to make visible and promote the practice of table tennis among children and adolescents in Chile.
“Santiago 2023 is a celebration for our country. We want to look at sport as a tool for social development because through it we can build better people,” said Wladimir Araya, president of the Chilean Table Tennis Federation.
The league is organized by the Chilean Table Tennis Federation and co-financed by the Luksic Foundation.
