In September 2015, a representative from the country attended the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Chef de Mission seminar as part of the country's preparation efforts for the 2016 Games.[2][3]
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[4][5] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.[6]
Brazil automatically gets four berths at the 2016 Paralympics as the host nation, but had the ability to qualify additional athletes. At the 2015 World Archery Para Championships, several archers did just that. Francisco Cordeiro did this in the recurve men's open third round, while Jane Karla Gogel did it in the compound women's open by reaching the quarterfinal and Fabíola Lorenzi Dergovics added an extra spot as a result of her performance in the recurve women's open Paralympic secondary tournament.[7] At the Parapan Games Brasil secured more spots with Thais Carvalho in the recurve women's open with a silver medal and Luciano Rezende with a gold medal and Diogo de Souza with the fourth place in the recurve men's open. All members of Brazilian archery team are participating at their first Paralympic Games as Brasil never before qualified an archer for the Paralympic Games, only Jane Karla Gogel had participated in 2008 Beijing and the 2012 London Games in table tennis.
Petrúcio Ferreira is expected to be part of the Brazilian athletics delegation. When he was 18 years old, he broke the world record in the 200m T46/47 world record.[8]
Brazil qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in this sport at the Montreal hosted 2015 BisFed Americas Pair and Team championship in the Pairs BC3 event. They claimed gold ahead of silver medalist Canada and bronze medalists Colombia.[9][10]Dirceu Pinto goes to the Rio Games as the reigning 2008 and 2012 individual BC4 and pairs BC4 gold medalist.[8]
Brazil qualified for the Paralympics by virtue of being hosts. They also qualified in their own right by winning the IBSA Blind Football World Championships 2014 in Tokyo, Japan. They would also have qualified by virtue of winning the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, Canada, the regional qualifier for the Americas.[11][12][13][14]
The following is the Brazil squad in the football 5-a-side tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[15]
Brazil during halftime at a game in the IFCPF Pre Paralympic Tournament Salou 2016, the last major preparation tournament for the Rio Games.
Brazil automatically qualified as the host country.[16][17] Jan Francisco Brito da Costa is the best player for Brazil, and dominated at the 2015 World Championships. His team finished third at the 2015 CP Football World Championships.[8]
The draw for the tournament was held on May 6 at the 2016 Pre Paralympic Tournament in Salou, Spain. Brazil was put into Group A with Ukraine, Great Britain and Ireland.[18] The tournament where the draw took place featured 7 of the 8 teams participating in Rio. It was the last major preparation event ahead of the Rio Games for all teams participating.[19] Brazil finished second, after losing 0 - 2 to Ukraine in the 1st place match.[20]
Going into the Rio Games, the country was ranked third in the world.[21]
Romário Diego Marques is one of the members of the Brazil men's national goalball team. He is expected to be on the roster for Rio, after having been part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and the gold medal-winning team at the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships.[8] The team automatically qualified as hosts, but they would have qualified in their own right as winners of the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships.[22][23][24] Brazil's men enter the tournament ranked 5th in the world.[25]
The following is the Brazil roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[26]
Fernando Aranha, cross-country skier who competed in the 2014 Winter Paralympics, returns to make his debut in the Summer Paralympics competing in the Paratriathlon. He became the first Brazilian paralympic athlete to compete in both the Winter and Summer Paralympics.
One pathway for qualifying for Rio involved having a boat have top eight finish at the 2015 FISA World Rowing Championships in a medal event. Brazil qualified for the 2016 Games under this criterion in the AS Men's Single Sculls event with a seventh-place finish in a time of 04:57.010.[29][30]
The last direct qualifying event for Rio in shooting took place at the 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup in Fort Benning in November. Alexandre Galgani earned a qualifying spot for their country at this competition in the R4 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 event.[31][32]
Daniel Dias is a favorite Brazilian swimmer going into the Rio Paralympics.[8] Brazilian swimmers competed at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships as part of their Rio readiness efforts.[34]
The Brazil men's national wheelchair basketball team has qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics by virtue of being the host nation.[35] Brazil had the choice of which group they wanted to be in. They were partnered with Spain, who would be in the group Brazil did not select. Brazil chose Group B, which included Iran, the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Algeria.[36]
Brazil men's national basketball team – 2016 Summer Olympics roster
The Brazil women's national wheelchair basketball team has qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[35] As hosts, Brazil got to choose which group they were put into. They were partnered with Algeria, who would be put in the group they did not choose. Brazil chose Group A, which included Canada, Germany, Great Britain and Argentina. Algeria ended up in Group B with the United States, the Netherlands, France and China.[36]
Brazil women's national basketball team – 2016 Summer Olympics roster
The Brazil national wheelchair rugby team has qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics by virtue of being the host nation.[14] Brazil was scheduled to open play in Rio against Canada on September 14. Their second game was scheduled to be against Australia on September 15. Their final game of group play as against the Great Britain on September 16.[37] Brazil entered the tournament ranked number nineteen in the world.[38]
^"CP Football Qualifying"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"Rowing Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^"Shooting Qualification"(PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
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