RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Five places at the Tokyo Paralympic Games and nineteen medals. This is the balance of Brazilian table tennis in the individual competitions of the Parapan-American Games Lima 2019. Of the thirty members of the Brazilian team, over sixty percent took the podium in this first leg of competitions. Team tournaments began yesterday, August 25th.
The gold medals are the main goal, since they qualify the table tennis winners for the Tokyo Games. Brazilians won in five classes: SM7, with Paulo Salmin; SF4, with Joyce Oliveira; SF8-10, with Danielle Rauen; SM10, with Carlos Carbinatti and, SM8, with Luiz Filipe Manara.
Manara family celebrates with a two-time championship
The final of the SM8 class against Steven Roman, Costa Rica, was the most challenging game out of the five that São Paulo’s Luiz Manara played before winning his second championship.
A virtually crowded gym followed the final win by three sets to one in Vila Desportiva Nacional in Lima.
Disability and family support
Due to lack of oxygen in the brain during childbirth, Luiz Felipe Manara struggled to move the right side of his body.
Table tennis emerged in his life as a form of physiotherapy, after two surgeries. After the Rio de Janeiro Games, the boy failed to remain in the Brazilian National Team. He even considered quitting the sport. But his family support was stronger.
“They always did everything for me. Last year, I decided to go back to training hard and try to qualify for the Brazilian team. My mother and father gave me their full support, and today I’m here celebrating with them,” he recalled.
In São Paulo last December, during the national team selection, Manara needed to be first to qualify for Parapan.
And that’s what he achieved in São Paulo, during selection, and now, in Lima. The gold in the Parapan American Games placed Luiz Manara in the upcoming 2020 Paralympics.