Ten promising athletes receive the III ‘Becas García Bragado- OAFI- Kern Pharma Scholarships’ to promote their sporting careers.

• The scholarships will help 10 young athletes and promising athletes to develop their sporting careers in an optimal and healthy way.

• As in the previous edition, two of the scholarships will go to young people with disabilities.

Barcelona, 28 June 2024. The Osteoarthritis Foundation International (OAFI), the pharmaceutical laboratory Kern Pharma and the former Olympic athlete Jesús Ángel García Bragado presented the third edition of the ‘García Bragado – OAFI – Kern Pharma Scholarships’ on Thursday 27 June. The event, held at the headquarters of Kern Pharma in Terrassa (Barcelona), has served to highlight the commitment to the values of sport and to encourage future Spanish athletes to take part in healthy sporting activities.

In the III edition of the ‘Becas García Bragado – OAFI – Kern Pharma’ the number of scholarship recipients is consolidated at 10, but the amount that each athlete receives is increased. Moreover, as in the last edition, two of the young people are people with disabilities. The selected promising athletes, aged between 12 and 16, belong to the following clubs Atletismo Tajamar (Madrid); Club Javi Conde (Bizkaia) and Unió Atlètica de Terrassa (Barcelona). All of them are promising young athletes who have already been recognised in the athletics specialities of cross country, indoor track, hurdles, combined, long jump and pole vault, among others. The committee of experts in charge of the selection of the scholarship winners were Chuso García Bragado, Olympic athlete and world champion in race-walking; Dr. Josep Vergés, founder and president of OAFI; Dr. José María Villalón, head of medical services at Atlético de Madrid and patron of OAFI; and Dr. Ana Vieta, director of the Scientific-Technical Area of Kern Pharma.

Protagonists

For the athlete García Bragado, “to be able to celebrate the third edition of the scholarships is a source of immense pride. To see how a project that was born from a dream is bearing such good fruits is a great satisfaction: for example, two of the scholarship holders of the first edition are already within the monitoring system of the National Programme of Sports Technification of the Spanish Athletics Federation and are attending concentrations of the federation as future promises of athletics in our country. Thanks to Kern Pharma and OAFI for their unconditional support for this initiative and for helping these young athletes and their families to continue training and competing with these magnificent results”.

Dr. Vergés has shared the enthusiasm for the good results and stresses the importance of promoting healthy and safe sport from the early stages: “healthy sport is the best way to develop as people and take care of our joint health, avoiding possible osteoarticular pathologies in the future. Being part of an initiative like this and taking care of the joints of our promising athletes is always a pleasure for OAFI”.

In closing, Dr. Ana Vieta, Director of the Scientific-Technical Area of Kern Pharma, added that, “Kern Pharma’s support for health and sport is non-negotiable. It is important for us to continue promoting these initiatives that allow us to continue developing the potential of young athletes and also of people with disabilities who do not set themselves limits. Effort and the desire to excel are also values that we share with Kern Pharma.

High-intensity training increases the risk of osteoarthritis, as well as chondropathies of the hip and knee. In fact, according to OAFI data, in Spain, it is estimated that 30% of elite athletes will suffer from osteoarthritis.

Congratulations to the scholarship recipients, the emerging talents of athletics! 🎉

¡If you are an athlete and want to learn more about how to practice sport in a healthy way, call the OAFI Foundation now, tell us your experience and we will help you!

OAFI Fundación Internacional de La Artrosis

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