Table tennis player Bruna Alexandre has the goal of being the first athlete in the country to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The 28-year-old from São Paulo, who had her right arm amputated at the age of three months, due to a poorly applied vaccine, is close to her fourth Paralympics, between August 28 and September 8, 2024, in Paris. She, however, wants to arrive earlier in the French capital and also compete in the Olympics, from July 26 to August 11. Working with able-bodied athletes is nothing new for Bruna, who started playing table tennis at the age of seven and only discovered the Paralympic sport when she was 12. Even so, she did not fail to face “conventional” table tennis players. The woman from São Paulo competes in the “Olympic” women’s national circuit and was even last year’s Brazilian champion. In 2019, the table tennis player obtained a place, through a selective process, in the selection that competed in the Pan American Games in Lima (Peru). “In May, I play one last championship to fulfill the demands [da ITTF] for the Paris Paralympics. Then I start in June [a jogar] international Olympic championships”, said Bruna Alexandre, current number 3 in the world in class 10 – André Soares/CBTM/Rights Reserved “In 20 years of career, what helped me a lot to be among the best in the world in the Paralympics was the Olympic . In it, I play with people with both arms, who don’t have any difficulty with balance, so when I go to the Paralympics, I don’t feel that difficulty. The Paralympic has a different game, more closed, while the Olympic is more open. I’m learning every day [sobre] these differences,” explained Bruna. In Paralympic table tennis, athletes with mobility impairments are divided into ten classes. The higher the category number, the lower the degree of physical-motor impairment. Third in the world in class 10, Bruna is almost qualified for the Paralympics in Paris by the world ranking of the International Federation of the modality (ITTF), but it can secure the place as early as November, without depending on the list, if it is champion of the category at the Parapan American Games in Santiago (Chile). ). “In May, I play one last championship to fulfill the demands [da ITTF] for the Paris Paralympics. Then I start in June [a jogar] the international Olympic championships. From then on, I manage to enter the Olympic world ranking and try for a place in the Pan American Games. [que também serão em Santiago] and at the Olympics”, said the São Paulo native, who has four Paralympic medals (one silver and three bronzes) and a world title in mixed doubles last year in Granada (Spain), alongside Paulo Salmin. It’s SILVER! 🥈🥈 In a very disputed match, Bruna Alexandre is defeated by the Australian Qian Yang by 3 sets to 1 and takes the second position in class 10. You played A LOT, Bruna! CONGRATULATIONS 💛💚#ParalimpicoEmToquio #JogosParalimpicos pic.twitter.com/WhoOlFZbNLJ — Committee Brazilian Paralympics (@cpboficial) August 30, 2021 The Olympic path is more complicated. The women’s team, first, needs to qualify for Paris, which would mean guaranteeing three places for Brazil. If that happens and the selection criteria are the same as the selection criteria Tokyo Olympics (Japan), in 2021, two places will go to the country’s best positioned players in the ranking – currently, Bruna Takahashi (40th) and Luca Kumahara (113th) – and one defined by technical choice. The inspiration to believe in the dream Olympic comes from one of Bruna’s great rivals in the Paralympic: Natalia Partyka. Owner of nine medals in the Paralympics, six of them gold (four in the individual), the 33-year-old Polish woman also competed in four Olympics. In March of this year, the Brazilian won an unprecedented victory over Partyka, in the final of the Lignano Open (Italy). “It was a very big step. I had played five, six times with her, I had never won. I am very happy and motivated. [Na Paralimpíada] I have a bronze and a silver in the individual, so in Paris I want to get the gold. At the Olympic Games, I know it’s very difficult to get a medal, but I’d be very happy to be there, competing as equals and showing that disability is nothing”, he concluded.
Agência Brasil
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