canarian wrestling el hierro bediesta guamasa

Canarian wrestling brings prestige to El Hierro

Bediesta wins institutional bout on El Hierro

Club de Lucha Bediesta (La Palma) won the institutional wrestling match held at the Martín arena in the El Hierro municipality of El Pinar, after defeating Club de Lucha Guamasa (Tenerife) 12-8. The encounter also carried extra competitive weight: it corresponded to the penultimate round of the regular phase of the DISA Government of Canary Islands First Category men’s tournament, meaning the result counted towards the championship standings. The bout, designed as a particularly attractive fixture for the local El Hierro public, delivered an intense and fast-paced contest in which the Palman team managed the decisive moments better to close the night with victory.

Second year of competitive format

Beyond the scoreline, the main distinctive feature of this edition is that, for the second consecutive year, the institutional wrestling match was held with official status – that is, integrated into a regular competition and featuring club teams. This model replaces the traditional format linked to Canary Islands Day, which for years was based on matches between island representative teams, and now opts for an event that combines institutional symbolism with genuine sporting demands. In this context, Bediesta and Guamasa succeed the teams that launched this competitive formula last year, confirming the desire to give continuity to a scheme that places Canarian wrestling centre stage during the regional calendar celebrations.

Festival of traditional sports

The institutional wrestling match in El Pinar also served as the closing event of the III Canary Week of Traditional Games and Sports, an initiative promoted by the Government of the Canary Islands through the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports, in collaboration with the Canarian Wrestling Federation. The event likewise acted as the culmination of the calendar organised to mark Canary Islands Month.

Women’s wrestling takes centre stage

The evening reserved a prominent slot for women’s Canarian wrestling with a championship featuring top wrestlers. In the semi-finals, Lucía Herrera (CL Guamasa, Tenerife) faced Lorena Mateo (CL Santa Rita, Gran Canaria), while Cristina Rodríguez (CL Tenercina, La Palma) took on Sara Monteiro (CL Unión Tetir, Fuerteventura). The final crowned Sara Monteiro as champion after she defeated Lucía Herrera. The inclusion of this competition in the programme reinforces the growing role of women’s wrestling in major events and helps normalise its visibility within fixtures that receive the most public and symbolic attention.

Recognition for wrestling legends

Before the bouts began, the institutional wrestling match incorporated a recognition ceremony promoted by the Canarian Wrestling Federation. The ceremony honoured the careers of former Federation presidents and paid special tribute to Francis Pérez, known as Pollito de La Frontera, presented by the Minister for Sports, Poli Suárez. Distinctions linked to island federations were also awarded to individuals who have contributed to the growth and strengthening of Canarian wrestling in their respective islands. Likewise recognised were the participating clubs, the champion and runner-up of the women’s challenge, collaborating institutions, and representatives from the refereeing community. The underlying message was clear: Canarian wrestling is sustained by a network of collective commitment that preserves and transmits one of the Archipelago’s main sporting and cultural identity markers.

A journey across the islands

The III Canary Week of Traditional Games and Sports was conceived as a journey across different islands to bring representative disciplines of the Canarian sporting heritage closer to the educational community and the general public. The programme began on 22 May in Santa Cruz de La Palma, with an inaugural event that gathered nearly 500 pupils from rural schools around workshops and exhibitions of various traditional disciplines linked to Canarian identity. Two days later, the bay of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria hosted a meeting between the two types of Canarian lateen sail – barquillos and botes – reviving a fixture that had not been held for eight years. Subsequently, in Lanzarote, around eighty pupils from CEIP Antonio Zerolo took part in a barquillos lateen sailing activity at the Insular Centre of Nautical Sports at Playa del Cable.

La Gomera and Tenerife took over in later sessions: in San Sebastián de La Gomera, the area around the Torre del Conde hosted a showcase of traditional games featuring disciplines such as Canarian wrestling, pina, the stick game and bola canaria, with handball taking a particularly prominent role. In Tenerife, the Casa del Ganadero in La Laguna served as the setting to introduce students to disciplines including cattle dragging, stick fighting, and plough and stone lifting, through exhibitions and educational activities.

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