The University of Córdoba today celebrated its traditional Sports Gala 2.4, an event with which the institution annually recognizes and distinguishes its best teams and athletes and which in this edition has had two athletes as masters of ceremony: the badminton player Fátima Albín and the chess player Luis Miguel Lechuga, also a pianist who has enlivened the Gala with various musical pieces.
The Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology has been the scene of this university sports festival that has been chaired by the rector of the University of Córdoba, Manuel Torralbo Rodríguez; the vice chancellor of Health and Wellbeing of the University Community, Rafael Solana Lara; and Marta Domínguez, director of University Sports, and has also had the assistance of institutional and university authorities.
The Gala began with the piece Sportmotion, a choreography performed by dancers from the Luis del Río Professional Dance Conservatory, created and directed by Susana Aguilar Barroso. Next, the dialogue table “Experiences in Paris 2024” took place with Olympians César Montes, second coach of the Spanish handball team, and Carmen Avilés, semi-finalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics with the women’s 4×400 relay, and best mark of a Spanish women’s relay in an Olympics. Antonio Pineda, coach of the UCO men’s handball team, and Antonio Bravo, athletics coach.
Presentation of awards to recognize outstanding athletes
The event included the traditional presentation of awards to the winners of the different disciplines of the XXXIX UCO Trophy – the former Rector Trophy. In padel, Alejandro Arévalo Marín and Carlos Luque Gonzalez-Espaliú have received the first prize; in tennis, Gabriel Ortiz Pérez and Daniel Falla Fernández, first and second respectively; in table tennis, Jorge López Antón and Raúl Bermúdez Villalba; in futsal, the teams ‘Los leones’ and ‘Tradis Club’; in Football 7, ‘La rosita’ and ‘Bayer of the fallen’; and in 3×3 basketball, ‘Alcolea’ and ‘Blackbulls’; in sand volleyball, Julián Vargas Manzino and Daniel Verdugo Cano, first classified, and Alejandro Belmonte Pérez and Carmen, second; in badminton, Juan de Dios Benítez Sillero and Olimpia María García Sobrino; in chess, Bernardo César Maestre and Jorge Aguilar Martín; and, finally, in mountain races, Miguel Ángel Alejo Plana and Andrés Cosano Molleja.
Regarding the winners of the Andalusian University Championships, the UCO has presented recognition to the women’s handball team, champion of Andalusia 2024 and fourth in Spain. Likewise, as in previous editions, the centers participating in the VII Baccalaureate Sports Games ‘The UCO, your University’ have been recognized: IES Gran Capitán, Fidiana, Luis de Góngora, Maimónides and Trasierra, and Británico and Virgen schools of Carmen.
Likewise, the Higher Polytechnic School, the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology and the Faculty of Sciences have received the first, second and third prize, respectively, as the centers that have participated the most this year in the university sports calls.
During the Gala, tickets were raffled among attendees for the next Córdoba CF match at the Arcángel.
The rector concluded the event by congratulating the athletes awarded at this gala, highlighting the important role of the University in promoting values in the student body such as camaraderie, self-improvement and health promotion associated with sport. Torralbo has highlighted the enormous effort made by students who combine their academic activity with sports, especially in the case of high-performance athletes. Likewise, he has had some words of recognition for both the selectors and the Olympic athletes, of whom he has expressed “feeling deeply proud.”
During the event, the shirt for the next UCO 2025 Trophy was also presented, the design of which has been chosen by the university community through popular voting.
