Costa Rica's national team will be without two key players for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games

In the last few hours, news broke that two athletes selected for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games will not be attending the event. These are Nataly Bernold in the shortboard category and Lía Díaz in the longboard category.

In the case of Nataly Bernold, and according to the Surfing Federation, we obtained the following statements:

"Good afternoon, I am writing to inform you that I will not be able to attend the Pan American Games. It's a bit complicated; I haven't been able to train because I was sick for a long time. I wanted to be in better shape for the competition, but it's very difficult. I don't feel physically prepared, and on top of the expenses of getting the equipment, my job is also making things complicated. I hope you understand. Thank you very much."

In the case of Lía Díaz, we were able to speak with the athlete who shared the following with us:

"It's because I got sick. In fact, I had changed my flight to see if I could still go because I didn't want to miss the games. I caught dengue fever last Friday, and I've been looking into whether I can still travel, but my health has worsened. I'm really disappointed and sad because I had worked extra hard to bring home the best result and another medal for the country, but unfortunately, things didn't go my way this time."

Lía Díaz secured her spot for Santiago 2023 and the bronze medal at the Pan American Surfing Games held in Panama in April of this year, and she was also the silver medalist at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games held in El Salvador.