On Tuesday, Benfica left numerous criticisms of the Portuguese Judo Federation, as well as the president of this institution, supporting the club’s judokas and the coach Ana Hormigo, also the eagles’ coach.
In a statement, the incarnated say that “national judo urgently needs honest availability for dialogue,” criticizing Jorge Fernandes for “putting the ego above the interests of sport and the country.”
For the people from Lisbon, there are threats and pressure from the federative leader, an “insidious desire to hold Benfica responsible” and a “refusal in the face of successive attempts at consensus”, expressing their total solidarity with Ana Hormigo, removed from the position of coach.
“Sport Lisboa e Benfica maintains full confidence in its Olympic judokas, who are disrespected in this relationship with the president of the FPJ, with particular emphasis on Telma Monteiro”, reads the note.
The lack of a “strategy to guarantee Olympic preparation” for athletes harms sport, considers the club, which again criticizes the president of the FPJ for not being “a solution for the future.”
The Bloco de Esquerda (BE) and the PSD have already requested parliamentary hearings on the ongoing dispute within national judo, following the conflict between seven judokas, six of them Olympians, and the federation.
The Secretary of State lamented on Monday the differences between the athletes and the Portuguese Judo Federation, considering that there are situations in the sport that “must be clarified.”
“I regret that common sense has not prevailed in sport, and given the accusations made by a group of athletes regarding the Federation, it is important to clarify some situations,” said João Paulo Correia, on the sidelines of a visit to the Paços facilities. de Ferreira, a club in the First Football League.
The head of the Government, who had previously mediated some differences between athletes and the federation, said that “he cannot pretend that there is not a serious disagreement in sport”, but he believes that “it can be solved”.
In the summer, judokas such as Telma Monteiro, Catarina Costa, Patrícia Sampaio, Rochele Nunes, Bárbara Timo, Anri Egutidze and Rodrigo Lopes wrote a letter accusing the president of the Portuguese Judo Federation, Jorge Fernandes, of oppression, discrimination and threats , lamenting the “unsustainable and toxic climate”.
The federative leader responded by saying that athletes have rights and duties and cannot “denigrate the image of people”, again denying the accusations made in the open letter, recalling that in relation to the funds for the Olympic project “there is no there is money for everyone. “.
Source: TSF
