The Brazilian men’s wheelchair rugby team secured for the first time in history a spot in the World Cup, scheduled for October in Denmark. The conquest of the direct spot took place after an exciting victory, by 54 to 52, against the hosts Colombia, in the dispute for the bronze medal of the Championship of the Americas, on the night of this Saturday (12), in Medellin. The top three in the competition stamped their passport to the World Cup.
“Brazil has been looking for this victory since 2019, when we lost the medal at the Parapan American Games in Lima. This trip was full of adversities, and even the death of Luiz who was our mission chief. We managed to focus on our goal and bring the medal to Brazil, we are now celebrating our achievement, together and looking forward to returning to Brazil and prepared for the next one, because we will fight hard for the next goals”, guaranteed Guilherme Camargo, team captain.
In the dispute for 3rd place (bronze), the Brazilians met the Colombians, to whom they had lost in the first phase by 45 to 39. In the other three games, the team lost in the debut to Canada (57 to 33); surpassed Argentina (65 to 32), and was defeated by the United States (60 to 38). In the semifinals, the selection suffered the second setback for Canada (52-35) in the competition.
“We had a lot of difficulty in this competition, very careful with the physical condition of the athletes for the medal match, the group was very concentrated and even with the difficulties, being behind on the scoreboard, we achieved our goal. Now we need to build, even with our going to the World Cup. I thank the whole team because nobody can do anything alone”, said Rafael Gouveia, Brazil coach.
