With the prestigious National Sports Award.
Two athletes from Jalisco, one of them consolidated under the Code Jalisco system, will be honored on November 20 with the prestigious National Sports Award, the highest recognition to which an athlete aspires in his country, and which is awarded every year by the National Commission of Physical Culture and Sports.
The winners are Isabel Aburto, in canoeing, and Sergio Pérez, in professional sports for his work in Formula 1. Both names appear in the list of six winners released this Thursday, which is completed by: Julio César Chávez, Mexican boxing legend, in the modality of trajectory; Elizabeth Orta Espinosa, for her work as canoeing coach; Karen Díaz in the modality of Judge-Referee; and the Instituto del Deporte de los Trabajadores (INDET), in the modality of Promotion, Protection or Promotion of the Practice of Sports.
It is worth mentioning that Isabel Aburto will receive the award as part of the National Kayak Team, which also includes Karina Alanís, Beatriz Briones and Maricela Rodríguez.
Her merit this year was achieving a historic bronze medal in the World Kayaking Championship, held in Canada last August, in the Senior category, an achievement for which Aburto Romero will also receive recognition as second place in the Jalisco Award for Sporting Merit.
CHECO PEREZ
On the other hand, Sergio "Checo" Perez was perhaps the most likely candidate to receive this award, after a historic season in Formula 1, fighting for second place in the drivers' championship and winning the Singapore GP and the Monaco GP. This weekend he will be looking for another podium finish at the Mexican GP, to be held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
In the last 20 years, Jalisco's sports have managed to place several of its athletes among the winners of the National Award, highlighting golfer Lorena Ochoa, who won it as an amateur in 2001, and as a professional in 2006 and 2007; In 2003, archery coach José Almanzor won it, as well as diver Laura Sánchez; in 2009, golf coach Rafael Alarcón received the prestigious award; the following year, archer Juan René Serrano and diving coach Iván Bautista were the winners.
In 2013 it was won by taekwondo player Uriel Adriano, while the following year the winners were Rodrigo Diego, in diving, and again coach Iván Bautista.
Among the latest winners stand out in 2016; the diver Germán Sánchez (2016), the visual weak judoist Lenia Ruvalcaba, and the judo coach Hilario Ávila; a year later it was Javier "Chicharito" Hernández who was chosen in professional sport; while in 2018 it was José de Jesús Castillo (para-powerlifting), Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez (professional boxing), and Iván Ruiz (cycling coach); to finally get it in 2020 the cyclist Jessica Salazar, the professional tennis player Renata Zarazúa, and the referee judge Lucila Venegas. Last year's winner was para-athlete Mónica Rodríguez.