Notícia

ANDREZA IS HEADLINE O LIBERAL NEWSPAPER

Por CBTM

In a sport which about 80% of its participants is men, she managed to stand out winning her limitations and aiming higher and higher towards stardom in the table tennis scene. Andreza Vidigal Barroso, 28 years old, table tennis player from Pará (Northern state in Brazil), is the only one in her state to be summoned to be part of the national Paralympics team amongst other 30 athletes, who disputed the Pan-American Table Tennis Championship that took place between 18^th and 22^nd of July, in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Her performance in the Para Pan American games produced to bronze medals, one in the singles class 9 and the other in the open, and the title of the second best player of the tournament, following another Brazilian player, Carolina Silva from São Paulo.

With a curriculum that gathers state, regional, Brazilian and world titles in sports' and Para sports' competitions, Andreza lives the joys and difficulties of this sport that has its origins in England and is considered one of the most practiced in the whole world.

The athlete began competing in 1996 in championships held by the Brazilian Table Tennis Confederation - CBTM, and since 2001 has also been taking part of competitions of the Brazilian Table Tennis Confederation for the Adapted - CBTMA, aimed at athletes with some kind of motion limitation. Her limitation of the right leg was caused by a misapplied vaccine, when she was nine months old, which ended up affecting her sciatic nerve ramification.

After her participation in the Mar del Plata Championship, Andreza is the third best player in class 9 category in the Americas. CBTMA has segmented the athletes in classes in order to organize the disputes according to the level of limitation: classes from 1 to 5 are for those in wheelchair and classes from 6 to 10 are for those who walk. Andreza belongs to class 9, which is considered strong and its athletes have a minor physical disability.

So as to continue developing her career, the table tennis player counts on with the sponsorship of Amazônia Celular and the support of the Assembléia Paranaense, Carmem Academia and of the Secretaria Executiva de Esporte e Lazer (SEEL), through the Projeto Fabricação de Ídolos (Manufacture of Idols Project).

Andreza works in the Call Center of Amazônia Celular assisting specifically the corporative market, when she is not in a table tennis court with her racket and the small ball. Besides this, she still manages to find time to take a course in Accountancy Science in a private university.

On the interview below the athlete, who in 2001 won the Romulo Maiorana Trophy for outstanding athlete, talks a little about how she began her career and what her expectations are for the sport. 

How did the passion for table tennis emerge?

I started playing for fun, actually, when I was seven years old, in leisure centers I used to go to and against members of my family in informal matches. My greatest stimulators were my grandfather, Miguel Vidigal, and my uncle, André Vidigal (former table tennis player). Because most of my family members play table tennis, since a very early age the sport has fascinated me.

You began your career, through the federation, taking part of competitions held by CBTM, where you have won several regional and national titles. Only in 2001 you participated of your first Para sport Tournament. What is the main difference between CBTM's and CBTMA's championships?

The Paralympics sports tournaments are more than a competition to me. They are a therapy, a life experience. My existence in the Paralympics sports scene started because, in 1999, when I was taking part of the Brazilian Cup, in Fortaleza, the wheelchair table tennis athlete, Eugênio Sales recorded one of my matches and sent the tape to Mr. Benedito, from the coaching commission, who is a great coach and, today, a great friend, to whom I have a enormous gratitude for believing on me without even knowing me personally. After watching the tape, Eugênio noticed that I had some physical limitation, but didn't know what it was. It was after this that the Brazilian Paralympics Committee asked me in 2001 to join the Brazilian team, which was going to take part of the I Para Pan American Table Tennis Games, in Buenos Aires, in Argentina, where I won two gold medals and one silver and, automatically qualified for the World Championship in Taipei/Taiwan (China). In the Para sports environment I made many friend, who, I am sure, will be there for the rest of my life.

Tell us about a remarkable moment in your career as a table tennis player

A moment of incredible personal accomplishment in table tennis happened in 2002, when I was invited to participate of the Paralympics World Championship in Taipei - Taiwan, a place know by its tradition in the sport, where I finished in the ninth position in the singles women. It was magical! And another moment that I will never forget: it was the first time I wore the national team's shirt. I felt overwhelmed by that opportunity. It was a dreaming coming true.

You have been collaborating with Amazônia Celular for five years. What do you think about the company's support to you work in the sport area and as a professional?

Amazônia Celular is my home, where I have made great friends. Since the beginning of my participation in the Paralympics competitions, in 2001 - same time I joined the company, they have been supporting me. What makes it so different is that this firm values the human being without being paternalistic, showing that they are always evolving.

What are your projects for the future in table tennis?

I plan to keep on competing in championships held by CBTM, CBTMA and the Brazilian Paralympics Committee, besides going to the World Championship in Switzerland and... who knows? win a place at the Para-Olympic in Beijing in 2008. I will give my best to go to my first Para-Olympics! After the two bronze medals in class 9 and in the open, I still haven't got my passport stamped to the World Championship in Switzerland/2006, so I have to get some points at other opens that will happen still this year in Rio and/or Buenos Aires. Though, to do so I depend on invites and sponsors.

The only summon in Pará to this Pan-American was to a woman. What is the importance to this fact to reassure the strength of the woman in today's society?

Every woman and every person, who wears the shirt from Pará, is truly happy about this call, because it shows the recognition of the work that has been develop in the State. In my case, it shows that the woman, each moment, knows how to do it well done, taking her place in society! Only this way the recognition happens!

Any special thanks?

Yes! I thank for all the moments in my life God, for every single thing! It is important to highlight that all of this is possible because I have a wonderful family (mother, grandma, grandpa, sibling, uncles and aunties) and great friends, who I have been collecting through my life: coaches, partners (in and outside the courts), sponsors that have always supported me. Therefore, my victories are not only mine. I share them with everyone that believe in the sport!

FROM: O LIBERAL newspaper