Sports

Column - Paralympic year ends with a glow at the World of Taekwondo

Country ended the event with seven medals and gold for Silvana

Published on 13/12/2021 - 20:05 By Lincoln Chaves - Repórter da TV Brasil e da Rádio Nacional - São Paulo

The weekend marked the end of the Paralympic international competition calendar in 2021, with important results for Brazil. Highlight to the Parataekwondo World Championship, held in Istanbul (Turkey), between Saturday (11) and Sunday (12), where the national delegation won seven medals, one of them being gold, with Silvana Fernandes.

On her way to the title in the category up to 58 kg in the K44 class (athletes with unilateral amputation of the elbow to the hand joint), the girl from Paraíba beat Russian Raganina Karina and Turkish Tugce Sen and Gamze Gurdal. This last duel repeated the dispute for the bronze medal in the Paralympics in Tokyo (Japan), won by the Brazilian.

Also medalists in Japan, Nathan Torquato and Débora Menezes from São Paulo won bronze in Istanbul. Gold in Tokyo, Nathan suffered a knee injury during the semi-final of the 61-kg division, against four-time world champion Bolor Ganbat, from Mongolia, and had to give up the fight. Silver in the Paralympics, Débora also fell in the semifinal of the category over 65 kilos, beaten by the British Amy Truesdale.

Brazil was represented by another 13 athletes, four of whom went to the podium. Leylianne Santos, from Amazonas, shone by being world vice-champion in the up to 65 kg category, surpassed in the final by Turkey's Secil Er - who, in the semifinals, defeated Ana Carolina Moura, from Minas Gerais, who won bronze. The same medal that Camila Macedo from Paraná won in the over 65 kg category (the same as Debora) after losing in the semifinals to Uzbek Guljonoy Naimova, gold in Tokyo. The native Christiane Neves was also in third place, in the category up to 52 kilos.

The conquests in Istanbul left Brazil in third place in the overall picture, behind only the Turkish hosts (14 podiums) and Russia (ten). The Brazilian performance was the best since the modality entered the Paralympic program. In 2017, in London (United Kingdom), the delegation was zeroed. Two years later, in Antalya (Turkey), came a gold medal with Débora Menezes and a bronze with Christiane Neves. In Tokyo, the country led the ranking of the sport with three medals, one of each color.

This year's Worlds brought news from the Paralympic cycle in Paris (France). Unlike Tokyo, where there was dispute in three categories, the Games in the French capital will have five pesos per gender. In addition, fighters who were in classes K42 (amputation of both arms, below the elbow) and K43 (disability in one of the arms, below the elbow), who had no competition in Japan, migrated to K44.

Dominion in the Copa America de bocce

Another relevant result of Brazilian parasports was achieved in the Copa América de boccia, at the Paralympic Training Center, in São Paulo. The ten athletes that represented the country went to the podium in the competition, disputed for the first time with the division of competitors by gender, as it will be in Paris. In the individual tests, which ended on Sunday, there were four golds, three silvers and three bronzes. In the team and pair tournaments, which ended today (13), three more medals came: one gold, one silver and one tan.

It is worth remembering that bocce is practiced by people with a high degree of physical-motor impairment. Classes BC1 and BC2 bring together athletes who play with hands or feet, with the difference that, in BC1, an assistant is allowed to deliver the balls. In the BC3 class, players are supported by a chute to take shots. Finally, in class BC4, there are competitors with spinal cord injury.

The individual gold medals of the Brazilian delegation came in the men's events of classes BC1 (José Carlos Chagas), BC2 (Maciel Santos) and BC3 (Mateus Carvalho) and in the women's BC1, with Andreza Vitória. Natalie Faria (BC2), Evelyn Oliveira (BC3) and Eliseu dos Santos (BC4) took silver, while Iuri Tauan (BC2), Evani Calado (BC3) and Ercilene Laurinda (BC4) were bronze. The country was also champion in the team dispute that brings together BC1 and BC2 athletes. In the BC3 class pairs championship, Brazil was runner-up. In BC4, the Brazilian pair was third.