Portugal and Spain have entered the Eland Cables FISTF World Cup, taking to 14 the number of nations participating in Tunbridge Wells.
The biggest news is that World Number One player Carlos Flores of Spain will not contest the event due to personal reasons.
His absence changes the World Ranking Qualified players in the Open category, allowing Alberto Di Maggio (GRE) to move into the automatic place.
Portugal’s team has been bolstered by the recent nationality transfer of Max Pereira in the U12 category.
Portugal has nominated players in five of the six categories.
Manuel Santos and Ricardo José are the nominated players in the Open category, with Luis Abreu and Sérgio Loureiro as Reserves.
José Santos and Rui Varela will contest the Veteran category, with Nuno Silva as reserve.
World number one women’s player Carolina Villarigues qualifies through the World Ranking.
Pedro Amaro will contest the U16 category.
Max Pereira (1) and Gabriel Bento (8) qualify through the World Ranking, with Afonso Monge and Francisco Bento as the nominated players. Daniel Dias will be their reserve.
Portugal will enter a team in the Open Teams event, comprising:
Manuel Santos
Ricardo José
Luis Abreu
Sérgio Loureiro
José Santos
Rui Varela
Carolina Villarigues
They will also contest the U12 team event, comprising:
Max Pereira
Gabriel Bento
Afonso Monge
Francisco Bento
Daniel Dias.
Spain’s campaign will be spearheaded by David Somoza and Júlio Candelas in the Open category, with Xavi Maso and Jean Michel Cuenca as reserves.
In the Veteran category, Antonio Montaño and Vicenç Prats will lead the way, with Juan Carlos Granados and Luis López as reserves.
In the U20 category, Spain’s Cristian Antúnez (7) and Isaac Alfaro (11) qualify through World Ranking, with Javier Junquera Miñambres as the nominated player.
In the U16, Martí Rosa and Manuel Baena have been nominated, with Erik Moreira as reserve.
In the U12, Julià Rosa has qualified through the World Ranking, with Antonio Antúnez as the nominated player.
Spain will contest four of the Team events.
Their Open Team will comprise:
David Somoza
Júlio Candelas
Xavi Maso
Jean Michel Cuenca
Alberto Gómez
The Veteran Team will be:
Antonio Montaño
Vicenç Prats
Juan Carlos Granados
Luis López
Ferran Coll
In the U20 category, the squad comprises:
Cristian Antúnez
Isaac Alfaro
Javier Junquera Miñambres
Martí Rosa
while in the U16 category, the squad is:
Manuel Baena
Erik Moreira
Julià Rosa
Antonio Antúnez
FISTF