Juan Antonio Vázquez “Chispi”, Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto’s new signing for 2013

 Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto announces the signing of Juan Antonio Vázquez, known in handball circles as “Chispi”, for the second half of the 2012–2013 Liga ASOBAL season.

 Juan Antonio Vázquez “Chispi” joins from CSM Bucharest, where he has played this season alongside fellow Spaniards Oliva and former red-and-white player Nacho Moya, coached by the legendary Vasile Stinga. The lack of adaptation to his new surroundings and the interest shown by a serious, ambitious club such as Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto convinced Chispi to accept the Valencian club’s offer. Chispi had been on BM Puerto Sagunto’s radar on several occasions, but for various reasons an agreement had never been reached until now. The fact that Juan Alemany is his current representative and a long-standing close collaborator of Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto was undoubtedly a key factor in finalising the agreement, pending only the relevant medical examination and the arrival of the player’s international transfer certificate.

 Chispi (Seville, 29 November 1983) is an established player in Spanish handball. A prolific left back, 192 cm tall and weighing 92 kg, he has demonstrated his jumping and penetration ability at every club he has played for. From his early days at BM Triana, he was recruited by the prolific BM Rochelambert academy, where, under Fernando Castelló and alongside Oliva and Juan Andreu, he was one of the leading figures of the Seville team as it progressed through the youth categories of Spanish handball.

  He is a player who has had to progress through the ranks, proving his worth in every national category before earning a respected reputation in the Liga ASOBAL. From Rochelambert, he moved to Dos Hermanas and ARS Palma del Río in the Primera Nacional, where he was instrumental in the Córdoba club’s promotion to the División de Honor Plata. This earned him a move to one of Spain’s best-run clubs, Anaitasuna, where he spent just one season before returning to Palma del Río, by then in the División de Honor Plata. His goals and his shooting ability in difficult moments of matches finally convinced an ASOBAL club to sign him. That club was the now-defunct Keymare Almería, where Chispi showed that his game was of ASOBAL standard. His time in Almería led the then-emerging and powerful Antequera, managed by Antonio Carlos Ortega, to call him up to become a key pillar of Antequera’s performances alongside Rafa Baena. Chispi, already a regular in the Spanish beach handball teams, in which he is a recognised specialist, reached the peak of his ASOBAL career at that point, even earning a call-up from manager Valero Rivera to the senior national team. An untimely cruciate ligament injury kept him off the court at that time. After his spell at Antequera and amid the Andalusian club’s financial upheavals, Chispi joined Fraikin BM Granollers, where he played last season, appearing in 22 matches and scoring 55 goals in the 2011–2012 ASOBAL season. With this signing, Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto aims to consolidate its objective of avoiding relegation and hopes it will enable the team to face the second half of the season without too much difficulty and improve on its twelfth-place finish in 2010–2011, the club’s best red-and-white record to date.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.