Mozambique: Athletes ‘in despair’ at detention of Portuguese coach

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Mozambique: Athletes ‘in despair’ at detention of Portuguese coach

12:30 CAT | 21 Jul 2022

Photo: Lusa

Athlete about to represent Mozambique at World Cup despairs after the arrest of her coach

Verónica José, who is one of the world’s top junior female competitors in the 1,500 metres, is among athletes in Mozambique expressing despair at the detention in Maputo of their Portuguese coach, Alberto Lário, in José’s case just days before her debut at the world championship in Colombia.

“It will be a despair for me to have to go to the world championship without my coach,” the athlete told Lusa, after on Thursday holding her first training session in preparation for the world championships in Colombia without her coach, who was marking his 63rd birthday in a police cell in Maputo.

READ: Mozambique: Portuguese athletics coach detained

Lário, who has been a reference for young athletics in Mozambique, was detained on Tuesday afternoon, allegedly because of irregularities in his documentation.

Mozambique’s National Migration Service confirmed to Lusa the detention of the Portuguese athletics coach, claiming that he had “for a long time” been in an illegal situation in the country, although it admitted that since he was born Mozambique – having left the country very young – he has had a nationality application pending for over six years.

But according to Verónica José, the coach’s detention is the result of a “conspiracy” organised by federation officials who do not want to let him reap the fruits of the work that he has done in recent years with young athletes from various provinces, some of whom were welcomed in his own residence in Maputo, as was the case of Verónica.

READ: Verónica José: The Mozambican quietly becoming an elite athlete

“He is a father to us,” stresses the athlete, who even thought of giving up her world championship bid when she learnt that the coach had been detained following a complaint made by the president of the Mozambican Athletics Federation, Kamal Badrú.

She recalls that she has had several opportunities to join Portuguese athletics clubs, but that Lário always advised her to stay in Mozambique, as the country needs athletes.

“I have already received proposals from Sporting and Benfica, but my coach has always maintained the idea that Mozambique needs athletes,” she said.

“For us, he represents two roles: the first as a father and the second as a coach,” agreed Esménio Beirão, another young athlete discovered by Lário and who lives at the Portuguese coach’s house in Maputo.

Lário’s detention has caused outrage among athletics in Mozambique, with a march even being organised, to start on the track at the Continuadores Park in Maputo and end at the headquarters of the Mozambique Migration Service, where a news conference on the case is t be staged later on Thursday.

Lário, who was born in Mozambique and who has lived in the country for several years of late, oversaw Verónica José’s establishing herself in the world’s top six juniors in the 1,500 metres, with the support of the Portuguese Association (AP) of Mozambique.

The world championship in Cali, Colombia, scheduled for August 1st to 6th, will be José’s first major international 1,500 metres. José beat the time of 4.29 minutes in Braga, Portugal, and has been improving her performance since then.