São Paulo – Brazil’s participation in the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, will be its largest participation in an event of this kind. The event is scheduled to run from October 22nd to 31st, with the official opening set to next Wednesday (21st). The Brazilian delegation will have 40 athletes, some of them already veterans, medal winners in previous editions, and other young talents that will make their debut.
The largest Brazilian delegation in a World Championship tournament had been in Lyon, France, in 2013, when 35 athletes participated. In 2011, when the tournament was in Christchurch, New Zealand, 25 members formed the Brazilian delegation.
The tournament is an opportunity to win medals and prepare athletes for the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympics Games, which will be held by the city of Rio de Janeiro. The technical coordinator of Paralympic athletics, Ciro Winkler, said to ANBA this Friday (16th), via email, that Brazil expects, in this competition, to consolidate its position among the top 5 in Paralympic athletics.
“Brazil’s growth in Paralympic athletics is happening in a qualitative and quantitative manner, since it always brings athletes to World Championship tournaments that are among the best. Our minimum grade, so to speak, is not only achieving the minimum qualifying time, but to have a real chance to win medals. Therefore, the evolution of the number of athletes over previous editions”, he said.
According to information from the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, all Brazilian athletes are among the top 4 in their respective events in the rankings of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Some of the most promising Brazilian athletes in this tourney’s edition are track sprinters Terezinha Guilhermina and Lucas Prado, with both winning medals in other tournaments, and rookies Petrúcio Ferreira, 19 years old, and Thalita Simplício, 18 years old, both also sprinters.
The tournament will have 1,315 athletes taking part, including guide athletes, coming from 88 countries, with the competition taking place at Suhaim Bin Hamad stadium, in Qatar’s capital.
In Winkler’s assessments, the strongest delegations for the competition come from England, Russia, China, United States, Brazil, Poland, Ukraine and Tunisia. He said that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar will stand out in wheelchair race, while Egypt and Kuwait are strong opponents in throwing events (javelin, discus, etc.). In its turn, Morocco stands out in long distance races.
In the last edition of the IPC Athletics World Championships, Brazil took third place in the medal tables, with 16 gold, 10 silver and 14 bronze medals, trailing only Russia and the United States.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
