Membres

ROMANIA, gold medal at the World Paraclimbing Championship

Cosmin Candoi, part of the National Paraclimbing Team, is the new World Champion at Paraclimbing, B3 category – the one dedicated to athletes with capacity of seeing between 5 and 20%.

Cosmin, along with 5 other members of the National Lot, accompanied by the coach and coordinator Claudiu Miu – former Balkan champion at climbing, competed between the 16th and 17th of July at the World Paraclimbing Championship in France. Romania is present for the third consecutive time in this international competition.

”I am very proud of the team and the results represent the proof of their hard work. We have hundreds of hours of training which have shown their usefulness at the biggest climbing competition for disabled athletes. With every climb, we demonstrate that when will and determination are present and they combine, the limitations and fears disappear”, said Claudiu Miu, the coach and coordinator of the National Paraclimbing Lot.

The Romanian Team was formed by 6 athletes - Cosmin Candoi, Cezar Ciuca, Alexandru Benchea, Răzvan Nedu, Alexandru Simion and Anita Constantinescu. They competed in B1, B2 and B3 categories – dedicated to people with visual deficiencies and in the RP3 category – dedicated to people with motor deficiencies. The name of the categories represent the degree of deficiency of athletes. The B1 category is reserved for the totally blind athletes, with a capacity of seeing between 0 and 1%. This category was attended by Alexandru Benchea. At B2 category compete the part-blind athletes, with a capacity of seeing between 2% and 5%. Răzvan Nedu attended this category. In the B3 category are included the athletes who have a capacity of seeing between 5% and 20% and in this category three Romanian atheletes from the National Paraclimbing Lot competed. The RP3 category is for the athletes with motor deficiencies and our representative was Anita Constantinescu.

The average age of the National Paraclimbing Team is 20-years-old and the sport trials the 6 Romanian athletes attented were at climbing categories with varying degrees of difficulty.

The ranking of the National Lot of Romania is:

Alexandru Benchea – B1 category, 8th place

Răzvan Nedu – B2 category, 5th place

Cosmin Candoi – World Champion at B3 category

Simion Alexandru – B3 category, 7th place

Anita Constantinescu – RP3 category, 5th place

”The World Champion title honors me. But you need to know that behind my success there is teamwork, with many training sessions and many limit situations that took us out of our comfort zone. I want to say thank you to the people who first brought me to the climbing hall, to those who taught me how to climb, to those who encouraged me and supported me. My friends, family, teachers, coaches and colleagues from the National Taem, they all contributed to my success. I had a lot of emotions, but I was also sure about the well-done thing -  a way that I`m proud beside a strong team. I am glad to be part of the National Paraclimbing Team of Romania and I am happy that I was the one who took the flag on the first stage of the podium, direclty to the first place”, said Cosmin Candoi, World Champion on the B3 category, part of the Paraclimbing National Lot.

Climb Again Association is actively involved in the training of the National Paraclimbing Team and with essential physical and psycho-emotional training, coach Claudiu Miu, along with other trainers and coordinators involved, wants to increase the mobility of visually impeared young people and also to increase the number of blind and partially-blind people who want to make performance through climbing.

About Climb Again

Climb Again is a non-governamental organization affiliated to the Romanian Federation for Climbing (FRAE). From 2014, Climb Again offers the possibility of free climbing, physical therapy and psychological counseling sessions to children and young people with disabilities, and the results are impressive.

Climb Again`s mission is to provide a chance to a normal life to people with disabilities. A normal life means a life in which everyone has the chance to reach their own potential. The professionals team – coaches, instructors, therapists -  it is formed by empathetic persons who pay a lot of attention on the skills that help children have an independent life and that encourages them to integrate and be part of the society.