In an interview given to TV NBr this Wednesday (29.09) in London, the Minister of Sport Aldo Rebelo praised Brazil?s participation in the 2012 Paralympic Games. Rebelo ratified the support of the federal government to parasport and praised the performance of athletes, coaches and the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) in the preparation for the Paralympics. Brazil?s delegation, which consists of 182 athletes, has 156 beneficiaries of the Athlete Grant Programme of the Ministry of Sport.

In addition to the Athlete Grant, the biggest direct sponsorship programme in the world, the Ministry of Sport has signed several agreements and funded the preseason training of part of the Brazilian athletes in Manchester. "The big investment on the Paralympics is a way of the government acknowledging the value of these athletes, who have overcome many difficulties in life to become a reference in sport", said Rebelo.

"We have been promoting direct investments in athletes. The prospect is for even more investment to be made so that not only a greater number of athletes practice sport, but also to ensure that high performance athletes may continue to improve their results", he added.

In relation to the number of medals expected to be won, the Minister hopes that Brazil will be more successful than in the Paralympic Games in Beijing 2008, when the country finished the competition in the ninth position. "In Beijing we finished in a good position and we expect to finish in the top ten again", he commented. Rebelo also made sure to praise the Brazilians who are in London. "The effort of the athletes, coaches and CPB deserves our recognition and all attention and investment", he stated.

Preseason in Manchester
Part of the Brazilian delegation had the opportunity to engage in acclimatisation training in a sort of preseason period in the city of Manchester, funded by the Ministry of Sport.

According to the National Secretary of High Performance Sport Ricardo Leyser, it is the first time that a Paralympic delegation conducted this type of preparation. "In 2010 we started using a new approach in the preparation of Brazilian athletes for world championships, Pan American and Paralympic Games", he explained. "And, through a partnership with CPB, the delegation had the opportunity of training in England as part of Brazil?s preparation. We believe that this type of initiative will have an impact in our athletes' results", said the Secretary, pointing out that care was taken to make sure that a Brazilian menu was available.