In its commitment to develop and promote new sports talents for the country, the Peruvian Sports Institute (IPD) began this year to train more than 30 thousand young people throughout the country, in during the summer and winter of the workshops 2024.
This year, the IPD Academy achieved its goal of benefiting 16,700 enrollees nationwide during the summer and winter seasons. The regions of Piura, San Martín, Ucayali, Ayacucho and Metropolitan Lima stand out as the most active and committed to attracting new talents for national sports.
The program includes various disciplines, such as chess, athletics, basketball, boxing, boating, soccer, gymnastics, handball, judo, karate, kickboxing, kickingball, weightlifting, swimming, pickleball, rugby, taekwondo, field tennis, table tennis, volleyball, para-athletics and para-swimming, promoting diversity in sport at the national level.
Numbers 2024
According to statistics from the National Directorate of Recreation and Sports Promotion (DNRP) of the IPD, during the summer season, Metropolitan Lima has the highest participation with 6,317 beneficiaries, followed by Amazonas (1,009) and Loreto (932) ). Other notable regions are Cusco (776), Puno (640) and Junín (614).
In addition, girls and boys from 6 to 12 years old represented 64% (10,758 participants), while teenagers from 13 to 14 years old reached 19% (3,096) and those from 15 to 17 aged 17% (2,841).
During the winter, 13,467 young people registered, highlighting regions such as Metropolitan Lima (4,567 beneficiaries), Cusco (849) and Áncash (824), in an effort to increase the results of the summer, which consolidates nationwide coverage.
From Peru to the world
The training and promotion efforts of the IPD Academy in recent years have yielded good results. One of the cases is that of Leticia Saavedra de Piura, who represented Peru in the Lima 2024 Judo Cadet World Championship, when she competed with about 500 athletes from 51 countries.
“Thanks to the IPD Piura Academy I have achieved many things, because it trained me since I was 7 years old. I feel a great emotion to represent my country in a World Cup, something that I don’t think I can achieve it, but, with perseverance and effort, I have made this dream come true,” said the judoka.
Another example is his brother Javier Saavedra, trained at the IPD Piura Academy and a member of the junior category of the Peruvian judo team, who won a silver medal at the Cúcuta 2024 Senior South American Championship, which took place in Colombia.
Also known is Katerin Olivera, 17 years old, from the IPD Academy in the San Martín region, who won the gold medal in weightlifting at the Sucre 2024 Bolivarian Youth Games and competed in the Lima 2024 Under-17 World Championship.
“I thank the Peruvian Sports Institute and the IPD Academy of San Martín for their support since 2018 in my sports development. Achieving the gold medal at the Bolivarian Youth Games is a great joy, a source of pride for my family and those who believed in me,” said Katerin.
A name that is also unique is that of Noemí Huayhuameza, trained between 2017 and 2020 at the IPD Academy in the region of Ayacucho, and who during his time in the program won a bronze medal in judo at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.
Among the latest young talent recognized is Rodrigo Aparicio from judo, who represented Metropolitan Lima and won the silver medal in the -81 kg division at the 2024 Nippi Super Cup Championship, in Lima.
national hotbed
In 2024, the IPD was able to identify 270 talents across the country, promoting disciplines such as gymnastics, athletics and judo. Piura, Ayacucho and Ucayali are among the regions with the largest number of famous athletes, showing the impact of a decentralized training strategy among elite athletes.
In the competition, the IPD Academy achieved a total of 49 medals in the 2024 federation championships, distributed among 12 gold, 15 silver and 22 bronze. These achievements include events such as the Nippi Super Cup Championship in Ayacucho (2 silver, 4 bronze), the National Children’s Athletics Championship in Arequipa (1 gold medal), the National Children’s Judo Championship in Puno (1 gold, 2 bronze) and the Southern Regional Gymnastics Championship in Arequipa (2 silver, 2 bronze).
In 2024, the IPD Academy promoted some of its athletes to the national teams, including Leticia Saavedra (Piura), who competed in the Lima 2024 Judo Cadet World Championships; Ángel Solís (Lambayeque), qualified for the South American U18 Athletics Championship; and Samuel Macuyama (Loreto), participant in the Pan American Canoe Championship in Uruguay.
Projection 2025
The Peruvian Sports Institute plans to double the achievements obtained by 2024 in the next two years. The main goal is to increase the IPD Academy to 35,000 annual beneficiaries, develop at least 600 national talents to high performance and achieve a 25% increase in international medals earned by graduates of this program.
With a strong decentralization strategy, the IPD Academy is positioned as a model for the development of sports in the country, consolidating Peruvian talent at the national and international level.