Italy: A homemade explosive device is placed in the car of a Spanish martial arts champion in Sardinia

A Spanish citizen residing in Sardinia (Italy), the champion and martial arts coach Aldo Rodríguez Navas, suffered an attack on Wednesday with a homemade explosive device placed under his car. The Spanish Embassy in Rome is in permanent contact with the Italian police authorities, who are investigating the events to try to identify the perpetrators of this attack.The explosion occurred on Wednesday morning, when unknown persons placed the homemade device under the vehicle of Aldo Rodríguez, a Fiat 600 that remained parked in front of the gym he runs at the Sant’Elia stadium in Cagliari (Sardinia). The Spanish coach was at that time inside the gym and went out to the street when he heard the explosion, which caused property damage to the rear of the vehicle. The police bombers went to the scene to assess the damage and open an investigation.In statements to the local newspaper L’Unione Sarda, Aldo Rodríguez has expressed his suspicions that it is an attempt to intimidate him, since it is not the first attack of this type who has suffered. “I do well teaching martial arts to children. This is the fifth attack I have suffered: I wonder why? “, Says the European champion of Thai wrestling,” when I heard the roar of the explosion I came out. They won’t stop me. I will continue doing what I love. ”Born in Valladolid, Aldo Rodríguez has been a European Muay Thai champion and a Spanish Kick Boxing champion. He has been closely linked to the Canary Islands due to these sports practices, until ten years ago he moved to Sardinia to open his own gym there.In an interview with the Canarian newspaper La Voz de la Palma he explained his career as follows:«I come from a humble neighborhood in Valladolid. I was never an athlete, until when I was 19 years old and tired of the Cod Route I joined a kick boxing gym, I quickly became fond of contact sports. I started practicing Muay Thai, Kick Boxing and Boxing in Valladolid and competed in all of them, alternating my work in the factory with training ». Aldo Rodríguez Navas, in an image published by the digital La Voz de la Palma. “But I worked in a factory and couldn’t do what I loved the most,” he added, “so I left the job at the factory (where I had been working ) and I started teaching in different gyms in Valladolid. Until in 2010 I moved to the island of Sardinia and met my wife there. At present, a small gymnasium of the Cagliari City Council collaborates, training all kinds of people, children, adolescents, adults and the elderly ».