The 12 men who will represent Brazil at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships have been announced.
Returning to the World Championships stage for the first time in 12 years since their last appearance in 2006, Brazil will be looking to build on their success at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Brazil’s Head Coach, Tiago Frank, has made four changes to the team that finished fifth in Rio, their highest ever finish.
Dwan Gomes Dos Santos (1.0)
Natanael Alexandre Da Silva (4.5)
Erick Da Silva (3.5)
Glebe Candido Alves Da Silva (2.5)
Paulo Cesar Dos Santos (2.0)
Luciano Felipe Da Silva (4.5)
Wandemberg Nejaim Do Nascimento (2.0)
Rodrigo Arão De Carvalho (1.0)
Amauri Alves Viana (2.0)
Leandro De Miranda (4.5)
Marcos Candido Sanchez Da Silva (3.0)
Gelson José Da Silva Junior (3.0)
The team face tough competition in their groups stages in Hamburg, Germany as they are set to meet Turkey, Japan and Italy.
Frank, said “I think the World Championships will be fairly balanced. The format of contention will raise the best teams. We’ll have a hard path to achieve our goals. It is also important that the teams from the Americas have a good classification considering the availability of spots for the Paralympic Games that will be disputed in the Parapan American Games. This makes the competition even tighter.
“On our group, we had a recent clash with the Turkish side in the Paralympics quarter-finals. A team that stands out by the excellent roster, who plays at an excellent level in Europe and also by the physical aspect. We see Japan as a rising team. They are doing a great preparation for Tokyo 2020. It is a team with a lot of potential. We still have little information about the Italian team, but we know that it’s a country that can surprise and that has a strong league.
“We want to make a great competition and that the Brazilian team develops to the maximum of its potential. We have quality athletes in our country and we want to explore this in the international scenario.”
