After competing and triumphing in several national tournaments this year, and above all remaining number one in her category in the national ranking, the athlete from Juarez Fernanda Isabella Sandoval Soto managed to be selected to represent Mexico in the Pan American Judo Championship. Sub 13 and Sub 15, which will take place at the end of this month in Varadero, Cuba.
“I feel a little nervous because it is a very high-level tournament,” shared Fernanda, who is 12 years old and has been practicing this martial art for six years.
At the same time, the athlete from Juárez is excited to learn the techniques practiced in other countries since in this tournament there will be representatives from Brazil, the United States, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, among other nations.
For Fernanda this will be the first time she competes in Cuba, but she already has international experience, having already competed once in Peru.
-How are you preparing for this tournament?
“With a lot of discipline, with a lot of training and preparing myself mentally.”
-In sports, how was 2024 for you?
“Well, it was very difficult because there were many tournaments, a lot of weight loss, but it was a very cool year because I went to many tournaments and won many medals.
“I went to Veracruz, which was the last national I attended to qualify for Cuba, and it was a tournament where I struggled a lot to lose weight, but I managed it,” said Fernanda, who hopes to compete in the Conade National Games in 2025. .
In addition to judo, Fernanda also practices cross fit, which she joined in 2020 and has been able to complement it with judo and school.
“I have been practicing it since 2020, I started it since the pandemic, we started training and it was something that I really liked, that I didn’t want to leave.”
Finally, Fernanda Isabella asked people in general not to stop dreaming and fighting to fulfill their dreams.
“If people have a big dream, let them fulfill it, because it is something that not many people can achieve, because if they have a dream and they go like ‘oh, I’m not going to be able to achieve it’, then they won’t achieve it. to achieve, so if they are mentally prepared and say ‘I’m going to achieve it’ they will achieve it.”
