Brazil reached 45 medals in this year’s edition of the Youth Parapan American Games, in Bogota. The event is disputed by disabled athletes between 12 and 20 years old, from 20 countries. On Saturday (10), there were 14 podiums. Eight came from weightlifting, where competitors have lower limb disabilities (amputation or spinal cord injuries) or cerebral palsy. Highlights for Mylena Silva (over 86 kg category), Clayton Costa (up to 59 kg), Daniel Nascimento (up to 88 kg) and Alessandro Ramos (up to 97 kg), who took gold in their respective weights. Dennis Sella took the silver medal among the athletes up to 97 kilos, while Pedro Alcântara, Leonardo Pereira (both up to 88 kilos) and Lucas Mariano (up to 97 kilos) won bronze. Daniel do Nascimento, gold medal in weightlifting, up to 88 kg category – Wander Roberto/Divulgation/CPB “My mother died a year ago and I dedicate the title to her, wherever she is. champion”, celebrated Mylena, in a statement on the page of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB). Six more medals were won in boccia, a sport practiced by athletes with a severe degree of physical-motor impairment, caused by high cerebral palsy or spinal cord injuries. In the BC1 class (competitors who play with their hands or feet and can have an assistant hand them the balls), Laissa Guerreira won the first of three Brazilian gold medals won on Saturday in the modality. “I’ve been playing boccia for seven years and, at first, I started out just as a means of inclusion. Now, I’m a young woman from the Northeast of Paraíba, who is breaking new ground and winning a gold medal at the Youth Parapan. , of all the fights that my mother and I had throughout my life”, highlighted Laissa, also on the CPB website. In the BC4 class (athletes with severe conditions of non-cerebral origin), there were two more gold medals, with André Martins and Beatriz Chagas. There were also three silver medals, with Caio Martins in BC1, Eduardo Santos in BC2 (similar to BC1, with the difference that players cannot receive assistance) and Ricardo Campos in BC3 (competitors who use gutters to throw the ball, with support of a calheiro). In the medal table, Brazil appears in fourth position, with 25 gold, 12 silver and eight bronze medals. Host Colombia leads with 42 gold medals, followed by Argentina (28) and Mexico (27). The Brazilian delegation does not have representatives in the athletics and swimming events, which distribute the most medals. According to the CPB, the organization of Parapan de Jovens was not able to guarantee the performance of the functional classification (a process that defines the class of the competitor, according to the disability) to all the athletes of these modalities, leading the entity to decide not to take them to Bogota. This Sunday morning (11), the men’s sitting volleyball team faces Argentina in the modality’s semifinal. In the afternoon, another duel between Brazilians and Argentines, this time for blind football gold. Finally, starting at 3:30 pm, Brazil will compete for medals in the bocce team disputes. The competition ends on Monday (12). The Brazilian team has 96 representatives in Colombia, 44 of which are members of the Bolsa Atleta (a federal individual sponsorship program, considered one of the largest of its kind in the world). There are also two calheiros, who help the bocce athletes.
Agência Brasil
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