López Mondeja, best Taekwondo coach in Cuba (I)
Today, a young man is walking along the streets of Contramaestre, simply one more pedestrian, humble and friendly, no one notices that we are in the presence of the best Cuban Taekwondo base coach, Emilio López Mondeja, who is thirty-four years old.
When he was only eleven years old (1996), while he was studying at the Juan Fajardo Vega Semi-boarding School in Contramaestre, he was shocked to see demonstrations of the activists who went from school to school spreading Taekwondo.
Then he went to the training area, where he confirmed his devotion “for the spectacular movements, the dynamic movements of Taekwondo”, according to Emilio himself.
López Mondeja, sportsman
He began his life as a sport man in Contramaestre with Taekwondo activists, until he came into the hands of coach Lusney Figuredo Arébalo, who led his pupil to achieve his basic skills in the sport of kicks in two years of technical work.
In 1998, as his third year in Taekwondo, López Mondeja enrolled in the Initiation Sports School (EIDE) of the province of Santiago de Cuba. Despite having the conditions, he was not the lucky athlete selected to form the team for national competitions.
The following year this athlete moved to Granma province, where he immediately integrated the team of that province to national competitions where he would beat his opponent from Santiago de Cuba.
In the EIDE of Granma, the contramaestrian López Mondeja, was several times provincial champion, he participated in national games, in a national cup in which he was multimedallist: gold, silver and bronze.
The young athlete began competing in the 51 kg in school games, and in the youth age he moved to 54 and 58 kg. He participated in two national events of first category, in the 64 Kg.
In the school category he obtained silver medal and bronze, in the youth he won silver medal, in the first category he obtained bronze, for these results he entered the national team reserve in 2002.
(Continued…)
Written by Radio Grito de Baire
