Pedro Val Balgueiras Died

July 31, 2018

Cuban sports movement and its delegation attending the XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games mourned the death in Havana of Professor Pedro Val Balgueiras, one of the greatest wrestling coaches in the world.

Pedro, as most called him, was born on December 12, 1952. He served as coach of the Island's national teams since 1975, contributing decisively not only to forging the Cuban school of this sport, but also to brilliant athletes who left their mark on the most excellent mats on the planet.

There they are, as testimony to his tremendous work, the results of icons of this discipline such as Héctor Milián, Filiberto Ascuy and Mijaín López, Olympic champions from the nineties of the last century onwards.

His outstanding performance made him worthy of various awards and recognitions in Cuba and abroad, notably the condition of best coach in the world in 2010, granted by the then International Federation of Associated Wrestling (FILA).

Maintaining for decades the hegemony of Cuban classical wrestling at the Central American-Caribbean and Pan-American levels; and leading the tricolor team to the historic triumph over Russia at the World Championship in Patras, Greece, in 2001, something unprecedented, were some of the achievements duly noted in his service record.

Statistics in competitions around the world are also very eloquent: between 1982 and 2017 our country celebrated 48 awards at that level, the majority of which passed through his hands, through his intelligence.

At Olympic events he proved to be a master at winning, as in the seven editions held between Barcelona 1992 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 his students reigned in six of them.

May his family, friends and colleagues receive not only sorrow for the irreparable loss, but also the commitment that his work will continue forward just as he wished in life.