since childhood Marco Pinto Rodriguez He was always closely linked to martial arts. Until he was nine years old he focused on karate but then, given the desire to try other disciplines, he delved into judo. And although it was not overnight, he was hooked. He began to dedicate himself more and more to him, to realize that in addition to liking him he was good at it and to progress. And in 2021 all the work began to bear fruit more visibly in results that placed him among the best in Spain his age.
A progression that remains to be seen where the ceiling is, but for now it has already had a prize. From Ponferrada to the Spanish team has gone the fighter of the Blume Club of the Bercian capital, that five years later he returned to the province a national team, specifically the cadet, with whom he took part this past weekend in the European Cup that Fuengirola hosted.
An international premiere that only lacked the results, since he lost equally the two fights he played in his category of less than 81 kilos, eliminating the Estonian Andris Org from the main draw and leaving him without options to fight for the medal in the playoffs the French Mael Rio.
He competed in the -81 kg category, where the Estonian Org and the French Rio left him without fighting for the medals It would have been the icing on the cake but even so it does not mean that the call, the first of the selection, meant “a surprise, a pride and a sign that I am on the right track” for the judoka who last year won the bronze medal in the Spanish Championship in his category.
“It seems that when I got tired of karate and I opted for judo I was right», says Marco, who remembers how «it took me a while to get the hang of it, in fact, I didn’t start competing seriously until 2019» and that he found out about the call from the national team to be able to carry out his ‘international baptism’ through his coach, Miguel Ángel Trejo, “to whom they sent an email and who was the one who told me, the truth is that I did not expect it.”
Thus, she took over from Daniela Agudo, the Kyoto fighter who had been the last to be called in 2017, as an international in a sport of judo that, however, has a lot of pull in the province, and that Marco would recommend “because it is one of sports of combat the one that generates fewer injuries and offers values of respect and sportsmanship.
He came to judo from karate at the age of 9. He competes in the Blume and has his great strength in “physical strength” It does require discipline and work to improve, the berciano currently training “four hours for three days a week” on the tatami plus what the rest go “to the gym”, currently finding themselves his strong point “in physical strength” and his mole in “little experience in competition».
However, this is one of those things that you learn with practice and that you can acquire in those who are your next challenges: «The regional junior and cadet, and the Spanish Championship in my category, beyond that I do not look».
