Maider Unda

Last weekend Maider received the Silver badge from the Asturian Wrestling Federation as award to her long history of compromise and dedication to the sport of wrestling.
 
The award ceremony took place during the celebration of the XVII. Olympic Wrestling Tournament of the "Real Grupo de Cultura Covadonga". The tournament took place in the context of the 75th aniversary of the cultural group.

Prior to that, Maider shared a double training session on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning with the wrestlers that later took part in the tournament, who were from Galicia, Burgos, Navarra, Madrid, Euskadi and Gijón.
The badge was given to Maider by the Sports Director of the Principado de Asturias, Mr. José Ramón Tuero, during a traditional Asturian dinner.


     

The new training room of the “La Mina” club from Sant Adriá de Besós (Barcelona) will be called Maider Unda.

The Catalan Wrestling Federation has changed the location of its headquarters to the sports center of the “La Mina” club, where they have opened the new training room that will have Maider's name in honor of the winner of the first olympic medal for the Spanish wrestling. Maider also used her travel to Barcelona to visit the High Performance Center (CAR) in Sant Cougat.

 

On a different note, this is the TV report about Maider from the ETB show Bisitaria (in Basque).

 

    

 

The Lehendakari (President of the Basque Government), Iñigo Urkullu, the Education, Linguistic Policy and Culture Counselor Cristina Uriarte and the Basque Government's Sports Director Jon Redondo, received in Ajuria Enea on Tuesday afternoon the Basque athletes Maider Unda (wrestling) and Jon Santacana (alpine skiing), after the recent successful results in the European Championship and the World Championship, respectively.

Urkullu highlighted the values these two athletes represent: “the effort, the overcoming, the sacrifice, the trust and the faith in oneself and in those around us providing support”, Urkullu said that these are the values he wants to inforce as Lehendakari, “because life itself is like a ski race or a fight against the odds, and it is so nowadays specially”.

The Lehendakari emphasized that, as it happens in sport, it is worth to continue the effort “day after day, to win the battle against the crisis and emerge stronger from the tunnel”.

Maider will return home with the silver medal from the Wrestling European Championship that is taking place in Georgia. With today's final, she will improve the bronze medals she got in Baku in 2010 and Belgrade in 2012.
The current Olympic champion the Russian Natalya Vorobeva has left no chances and Maider lost 0-4, 0-2.

     


Previously, the draw sent Maider directly to the quarter finals without having to fight in the initial round. She has won the Estonian Epp Mae 0-1, 0-2. Then, in semi-finals, Maider had to face the Belarusian Vasilisa Marzaliuk, as she did in the fight for the bronze medal in the London Olympic Games. This time Maider also won, 1-0, 1-0.

Today Friday March the 22nd Maider faces one of her first sport challenges in year 2013 schedule, as she will compete in the Wrestling European Championship that is taking place in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi.
After a long and uncomfortable trip, the draw has paired her with the Estonian Epp Mae for the quarter finals. The competition will start at 10 AM, and the results will be published in the following Web site:
 
These are the statements Maider made to BAT Basque Team about the championship (in Spanish and Basque):

      

On Sunday March 17th, the Tolarea Natural Cider Association of Gipuzkoa gathered for their yearly celebration in Hernani.
During the 18th chapter, Maider was named Honorific Member and sweared to support and defend the natural cider wherever she goes. Along with her Joxe Mari Aizeaga, director of the Basque Culinary Center and Pedro Santa Kruz, cider manufacturer in Larre Gain were also named Honorific Members.
After receiving the medal and the diploma for their membership, the three of them sweared next to a cider barrel.


        

Maider has received the award as one of the more outstanding athletes from year 2012 in the XXXIII National Gala of Sport organized by the Spanish Association of Sports Media that took place in the Romea Theater in Murcia. During this event, where the medalists from the past London Olympic Games had the focus, some others were also awarded, like the Spanish National Football Team, Atlético de Madrid, Alejandro Valverde, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Márquez and the Spanish National Roller Hockey Team.  

In despite of not have been able to attend the event, Maider wanted to greet the attendees and show gratitude for the award by means of a video recorded for the matter. Javier Iglesias, technical director of the Spanish Wrestling Federation, received the award on her behalf.

The following video shows part of the award ceremony and Maider's video:






Besides, in a statement to BAT Basque Team, Maider talks about her feelings during the first competitions of the season and talks about her thoughts regarding the possibility the that International Olympic Committee will leave wrestling out of the Olympic program.

Maider has won a new gold medal in the Spanish Championship that took place in the San Javier Sports Hall in Murcia. In this edition her opponents were Noelia Lalin (Galicia), Haridian González (Canary Islands) and María José Noguera (Andalucía), and she has been able to win them all without allowing any point. This is her fourteenth Spanish Championship.


Once the competition finished, Luis Crespo (Maider's coach), Francisco Barcia (Spanish National Team's coach) and Maider received from the Spanish Wrestling Federation commemorative presents for the medal in the last Olympic Games in London.
Then they read a statement against the elimination of the wrestling from the Olympic Games in 2020.

Now she will continue the preparation for the next European Championship that will take place from the 19th to the 24th of March in Tbilisi (Georgia).

Maider returns with the bronze medal from the Klippan Lady Open international tournament that took place in Sweden after winning Anastasia Lobsinger from the US. With few seconds left for the end of the first period, Maider managed to immobilize her oponent with her shoulders on the mat. Maider finishes her participation in the first international competition of the season.

These are some images of today's fight:



Next week Maider will travel to Murcia to take part in the Spanish Championship 2013.

Maider starts the season with the Klippan Lady Open tournament in Sweden. She started the competition with the German Maria Sal Maier and was able to qualify for the next round (1-0, 2-0).
In semifinals she fought with the current Olympic Champion Natalia Vorobeva from Rusia, with whom she already fought in last year's final, but has not been able to win her (2-1, 1-0).



                          




Today Sunday the competition will cotinue from 10 onwards with the repechages and the fights for the medals. Maider will try to get the bronze medal to Anastasia Lobsinger from the US.           
The competition can be seen online using the following link : Klippan Lady Open.