Dario Aldo Lencina (born 23 August 1980) is an Argentine 5-a-side footballer and current head coach of the Argentine women's 5-a-side football team. He has represented Argentina 5-a-side football team for over 20 years and has represented

Argentina at the Paralympics Argentina participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, with a delegation consisting in five swimmers, and has taken part in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since then. The country made its Winter Paralympics début in 20 ...

on four occasions in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. He is also a two time World Championship winner in 2002 and 2006 with the national team. He currently serves as the technical director of Las Murcielagas and also a member of the Football School of the Argentine Federation of Sports for the Blind.

Early life

Darío Lencina was born in

Belén de Escobar Belén de Escobar (or Escobar) is a city in the urban conurbation of Greater Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative seat for Escobar Partido. The city has an important Japanese Argentine population. File:Cas ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. He played in the youth divisions of the Villa Dálmine de Campana club. In 1999, he received a casual offer to play football for the blind as a goalkeeper. He made his debut at Escobar's Communications Club and later played for Estudiantes de la Plata. In 2001 he was selected to the Argentine team and made his international debut at the 2001 Copa América which was held in Campinhas,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Career

He was a key member of the team which won the 2002 IBSA Men's Blind Football World Championships and 2006 IBSA Men's Blind Football World Championships. He made his debut appearance at the Paralympics representing

Argentina at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Argentina competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team included fifty-five athletes, forty-four men and eleven women. Argentinian competitors won four medals, two silver and two bronze to finish sixty-second in the 2004 Summe ...

. He won silver medal at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

with Argentina 5-a-side team which emerged as runners-up to Brazil in the final of the men's tournament as Brazil went onto defeat Argentina in penalties to secure gold medal. He along with fellow Argentine 5-a-side players received prestigious Jorge Newbery award in 2007 for winning two world titles in 2002 and 2006. He was an integral member of Argentina team which defeated Spain in penalty shootout to win the bronze medal match in the men's 5-a-side tournament at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

. In the next Paralympics held in London in 2012, he was part of the Argentina team which lost the bronze medal match against Spain in penalty shootout in the men's 5-a-side competition. He was part of the Argentine team which emerged as runners-up to Brazil at the 2013 Blind Copa América Championships. He won another bronze medal with the Argentine side where Argentina defeated China in penalty shootout to win the bronze medal match during the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in the 5-a-side competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lencina, Dario 1980 births Living people Paralympic 5-a-side footballers of Argentina Paralympic football goalkeepers 5-a-side footballers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics 5-a-side footballers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics 5-a-side footballers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics 5-a-side footballers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in football 5-a-side Paralympic silver medalists for Argentina Paralympic bronze medalists for Argentina 21st-century Argentine people