“The Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade was an event of quality for the seven student athletes of Honduras that represented us in the sports of swimming, athletics and tennis,” says América Alvarado, President of the University Sports Association in Honduras (ADUH). “Jimmy Bendeck won his first round, and ended among the best 32 tennis players of the championship.”
The University Sports Association in Honduras (ADUH) was founded in 1993 by a group of public and private universities of the country, mostly including people that organised university sports in The National Autonomous University and Central American Technological University. It is currently shaped by 14 universities with around 150,000 student athletes, at varying levels.
“We have a main goal to finish establishing ourselves as a more organised association, with a new board of directors, so that we can promote a greater love for sports in every student,” adds Alvarado. “Even though we don’t practice winter sports such as ice-hockey, we want students to get involved and become connoisseurs of different sports that exist around different cultures.”
“As an Association, lately our most important event was the National University Games of Honduras in 2018, where sports such as taekwondo, chess, soccer, karate, volleyball, swimming, athletics, tennis, and basketball were promoted.”
1000 student athletes from 10 different public and private universities were part of this large tournament held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Equality was predominant in this tournament, as women and men had the same opportunity to compete and excel.
Looking ahead, Alvarado says “ADUH is a well-known leadership organisation in sports in our region. We are now looking forward to more student-athletes participating in more tournaments promoted by FISU, as well as Pan-American events and world championships.”