24 years old, Lydia Simon declared European champion in rubber rowing modality and won the gold medal at the Frontón national opening in Getafe last week. He established himself a year ago world champion There seems to be no limit to this modality and his future in racquetball. However, the Spanish Pelota Federation decided to leave. from the team that will represent Spain in the next World Cup It will be held in Biarritz from October 23-29 overweight. None of this Valencian’s victories in recent months seem to be enough for those in charge of the federation, as they were told in July, because he did not trust him. performance was far from targets marked.
Lydia He’s 1.65 tall and 3 kilos heavier than what the Spanish team considered the limit.. This difference cost Spain and this Valencia’s participation in the next World Cup from Villena, which decided to move to Xirivella in order to train the Valencia Community’s modernization centre. The player insists that the federation’s decision was arbitrary and regrets that only the weight reflected on the scales was taken into account, not the sporting performance.
3 extra kilos
Simon was only 3 kilograms heavier than the national team required. He was the same weight when he won the World Cup in 2021. and it was pretty much the same when he won European gold and national title last week. Player, your choice does not take into account anything other than weight, height and fat percentage but it still does not pay attention to other morphological indicators such as muscle percentage and bone density of each player.
Condemns that the Spanish Pelota Federation excluded him from the selection for not meeting his weight and body fat percentage targets: 66 kg and 22% fat: “They asked me to go to the World Cup. They don’t even do a good individualized review of each athlete. Their goal is to make us as lean as possible, regardless of muscle mass, for example.” The player complains.
“I am a girl with a large build and will never be able to weigh, for example, 50 kg”
Although the official list of call-ups was given last Tuesday, Lidia already knew she wouldn’t be going to the World Cup for weeks: “They told me at the beginning of August, two long months before the World Cup.” At that time, the woman from Alicante exceeded federal requirements by just 3 pounds: “A kilo I played and won the 2021 World Cup. I bought gold“, recalls the actress who did not think about being overweight: “I am a big girl and I will never, for example, weigh 50 kg”.
The actor feels discriminated against and persecuted: “I I don’t know what they have against me. What is clear to me is that, frankly, something is up. I think the whole FEP needs to change.”