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Seventeen days away from the Pan American Games, the Lima 2019 Organizing Committee continues promoting the Olympic and Paralympic values through its “Soy Lima 2019” campaign.
Lima 2019 arrived at the 6062 Perú Estados Unidos school in the district of Villa El Salvador with the renowned national karateka, Mariano Wong.
Nearly 800 primary and secondary school students welcomed the karateka, who performed a Kata exhibition and invited the students to take part in it.
“Sharing this with kids of all ages was an amazing experience. You could feel their good vibes and desire to support. I actually lost count of how many autographs I signed,” said the athlete.
One month away from his participation, Mariano stated “I would like to return with a medal and thank them for the joy they brought me.”
For the school’s director, Raúl Zamora, these activities “contribute to unite students, because seeing an athlete like Mariano motivates them to follow his steps,” he added.
“I find these activities beneficial for both the athlete and the school. Through this, for example, I’m able to introduce myself, and it is also a great opportunity for kids to learn and be encouraged to practice other sports. For example, today I was surprised to hear some students counting in Japanese, which means we have some karatekas in the school,” said Wong,
Promoting values through the Games is something Mariano was very interested at, and hopes that the Organizing Committee will continue to promote them at schools. “I wasn’t aware of these values, so it is great for these kids to know them at this age. For example, the words ‘courage’ and ‘determination’ are etched in my mind; I found that incredible,” he said.
Mariano Wong will compete on August 9 in the Kata discipline at the Villa El Salvador Sports Center, while the Kumite discipline will take place on August 10 and 11. “I visited the sports center for the first time, and it was very exciting. Everything looks ready, so the only thing left is receiving all the good vibes when competing,” concluded the karateka.
