The first day of any championship is difficult in every way. Not only is it hard for coaches and athletes to get into the rhythm, but even the systems and organizing committee staff, who aren't really competing and have done this hundreds of times before, find it hard to get started. Yesterday, for example, here in Wuxi, two areas were shut down at some point in the morning, which is a first for a WT event.
Speaking specifically about the Mexican team, the first day often sets the pace for the delegation, and although there have been times when they have started with a bang, such as 20 years ago in Madrid with Edna Diaz's medal, there have been just as many times when the delegation has gone from strength to strength, such as in 2003, when Iridia Salazar saved the team from an epic adverse result on the last day, or in Baku, where the medals came in the final two days. So, looking at history, the start of this world championship is nothing we haven't seen before, and nothing that can't be resolved.
That said, it is also important and necessary to engage in self-criticism and for athletes and coaches to understand that at this point, this exercise must come from them, because the current authorities couldn't care less. They didn't care when the ship sank at the Tokyo Olympics, much less now. I wouldn't be surprised if they were organizing a trip to the G4 cinema or something like that.
Yesterday's defeats are painful because, in my opinion and as I have been saying in all my appearances where the Mexican team in Wuxi is discussed, Sansores and Zaira were two of my strongest cards for this event.
Sansores was the obvious choice, as he had reached the final in the last three world championships, something that not many people around the world can boast about. In fact, only three Mexicans in history have achieved this: Jaime de Pablos and Iridia Salazar herself, neither of whom ever managed to win the event, unlike Sansores, who won gold in Guadalajara. Many may or may not like his style, we can criticize his appearance and many other things, but he has proven to know himself extremely well and has overcome any number of rivals he has faced.
Zaira is a promising young player. As harsh as it may sound, she does not represent the team's present, but rather its future—a very near future, to be sure, but the future nonetheless. She has done very well in events in the region and earned her place in the Pan American Games by winning the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, but in the Under-22 category, yes, that aberration of a category that I still don't quite understand at the international level.
It's not the same to fight and win in a Panam Series or a chocolate Pan American Games (excuse the expression, but I refer to the evidence), than doing so in the senior category, yes, the category where taekwondo is real, where competitors become legends and where victories really start to count. It is even less the same to win in these transitional categories than to compete in a world championship. There is no event bigger, stronger, or more complicated than the world championship... That should be clear to everyone by now.
I think Zaira came in with a good attitude, perhaps too good, but in this scenario, that's not enough. There are many more things that are needed to move forward, and yesterday I didn't see them. I'm going to blame inexperience this time, but we can't stay stuck in that position forever. There are things that need to change immediately, or the future I'm talking about simply won't happen. I don't say this lightly, but I say it with full knowledge of the facts: at least two generations of Mexican fighters have disappeared into thin air in recent decades, and this will continue to be the case if the situation isn't corrected.
I think Sansores' defeat yesterday was because his opponent managed to beat him at his own game: I don't think I've ever seen anyone take on the Mexican with such a similar style. Yes, using theatrics, tricks, and other devices, which, although they are part of the competition, don't look so good when they are used against us. Because let's be honest, Sansores is no champion of fair play either, and speaking of theatrics, he is the same guy who entered Paris wearing a wrestling mask in front of the whole world, so let's not act surprised. Sansores is going to have a difficult road ahead of him towards 2028 because not only is he no longer a young man, but he is also the rival to beat in the world. Many of his generation were not in Wuxi, and that only makes the target on his back bigger. Cisse had already managed to figure out his style, at this year's President's Cup a Russian beat him almost without breaking a sweat, and today an unknown Kazakhstani managed to defeat him. I also think there need to be changes, but here I'm not sure if we'll have enough time. In Mexico, there will be no one to beat Sansores, at least not soon, but Mexico is not the problem, the problem is outside.
Anyway, it's just a bad start, which I hope will remain just that: a bad start. This is just getting started and there are still many days to go. Meanwhile, today two other Mexicans are starting who could make significant progress. Hopefully everything will go well.
I delve deeper into this topic in last night's Wuxi (K)nights, you are welcome to join us:
