by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Alaor Azevedo, the President of the Brazilian Table Tennis Confederation (CBTM), had motivated his troops; a detailed plan to promote the sport of table tennis was in place.
“It is very gratifying to see the joy of the athletes, having the chance to train on the tables and flooring on which their idols played”, Alaor Azevedo
A total of 12 centres are in operation or in the final phase of opening; one of the most recent projects to be opened was the Training Centre of Teresina in Piaui in north eastern Brazil. The centre was installed in a Catholic school on the outskirts in the city.
“The goal is to have at least 20 training centres in the next two years, one in each state that is active. A main goal of these centres is to identify at least four talents, children between seven and 11 years old plus two Paralympic talents per year and to integrate them into our Diamantes do Futuro project. The project now has more than 50 athletes in our country. We recently sent 13 athletes and trainers to a 20 day internship in China”, Alaor Azevedo
In recent years, Brazil has become more and more competitive on the world scene with Hugo Calderano setting the standard.
Most pertinently, the likes of Frenchman Jean-René Mounié and Sweden’s Peter Karlsson have all fulfilled coaching roles.
The effect is more knowledge is available; now the task is to create a situation where the various centres can benefit from the knowledge accrued and enable Brazil to rise to even greater heights.
“The partnership between CBTM and Rio 2016 over the four years of preparation and execution of the Games was fundamental to the success of the Games. The work of the table tennis team led by Edimilson Pinheiro and Carlos Léon, was very important for the delivery of Olympic and Paralympic Games of high standard”, Alaor Azevedo
More knowledge in the coaching field but the knowledge gained is wider; Brazil now is better equipped than ever before to organise major events
“Legacy actions go beyond sports equipment. Today, CBTM has all the technical and organizational knowledge of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will gradually be implemented as much as possible in the national and international events”, Alaor Azevedo
The centres established under the Legacy Programme: Sogipa (Porto Alegre), Santa Catarina (São Bento do Sul), Olympic Center Ibirapuera (São Paulo), ACTM (Rio de Janeiro), Aracaju (Sergipe), Cuiaba (Mato Grosso), Maceio (Alagoas), Belem (Para), Varginha (Minas Gerais), Macap (Amapa), Manaus (Amazonas) and Teresina (Piaui)
