“In all the championships I participated in in 2019, I managed to win a medal,” says Cátia Oliveira before the Paralympic individual competition at the 53rd Brazilian Table Tennis Championship. After 4 matches, the statement remained true: the athlete from São Paulo was the class 2 champion and left the São Paulo Paralympic Center with the gold medal on her chest.
“It was a very good 2019, not only because of the medals, but because of the matches. I managed to beat the three-time Paralympic champion, who is Jing Liu from China, I was very happy. In China, I managed to beat Su Yeon Seo from Korea, whom I had never beaten before. So I can say it was a very good 2019,” summarizes the 28-year-old athlete.
Cátia is the 4th best player in the Paralympic world ranking in class 2. She is behind the Italian Giada Rossi (1st), the Chinese Jing Liu (2nd), and her Korean rival Su Yeon Seo (3rd). The Brazilian is just 6 points away from the third-ranked player.
“I was dying to play another championship to score points, but there was no way, the year had already passed. I'm right behind the girls, we're all bunched up there. If they aren't careful, I want to be first!”, she jokes.
(Photo: Reproduction/Instagram)
The dream is to be first in the world. But, before that, the goal is different: “To be a Paralympic champion. That is my objective. Both dreams are side by side. God willing, I will achieve it.”
Already guaranteed for Tokyo 2020, Cátia will now take a vacation at the end of the year, but in January she returns to training with her eyes set on the competition. It is total focus and heart in hand. “Sometimes the heart beats fast, but we are working so that it is at ease so that we can arrive with a clear head, a steady heart, and a firm and strong hand at the Paralympics to get that gold,” projects the player.
Speaking of a heart beating fast, the athlete from São Paulo already had an exciting experience last year. Cátia took silver at the Paralympic World Championships in Slovenia and became the first Brazilian woman to win a medal at a world championship. “It was a wonderful feeling. I say that to this day people say, ‘Cátia, you're the world runner-up,’ and I say, ‘Wow, I'm a world runner-up.’ To this day it hasn't quite sunk in. It was a wonderful feeling. I hope to get the gold at the Paralympics, because enough with the silver,” she jokes.
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Cátia Oliveira was a soccer player before a car accident in 2007 shattered her dreams of playing on the pitch. “I was called up to the national soccer team the very same day I had the accident. I had the accident in the morning and was called up to the national team in the afternoon to play in the U-17 World Cup,” she recalls.
After 6 years, the sports world called her back. “I was introduced to table tennis at a technology fair called Reatech. There was a table with a national team athlete who had been to several Paralympics. The moment I hit a ball, I said, ‘Man, I want to do this sport.’ Because I need a table and one other person, I don't need another wheelchair user. And when I went to my first championship, the flame was lit and I said, ‘I want to be an athlete again.’ Then I went to Rio in 2016, and I'm still here today, I fell in love and I'm never letting go.” This is what all of Brazil hopes for as well.
The post Ready for Tokyo, Cátia Oliveira wins gold at the Brazilian Championship appeared first on Olimpíada Todo Dia.
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