The Brazilian Wheelchair Rugby Association (ABRC) has announced the change of technical command of the national team. Responsible for commanding the team that qualified for the World Cup, in an unprecedented way, coach Rafael Gouveia leaves the post. Canadian Benoit Labrecque takes his place, after having held the same position between 2013 and 2014.

Benoit has over 20 years experience in wheelchair rugby. He coached Canada, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland. With the selection of his country, he was bronze medalist at the World Cup in New Zealand, in 2006, and at the Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2008. In addition, Benoit was vice-champion of Europe in front of Sweden , in 2015, in Finland.

“I’m really happy to work with the Brazilian team again. I received the invitation with great satisfaction. Many Brazilian athletes already know me, because of my reputation or because I faced them at a time. It’s a pleasure to return to Brazil,” said the commander.

Apart from Rafael, Gustavo de Cruz Almeida, Brian Muniz and Tomasz Bidus also left the national team. During the last month of October, Brazil took part in the Wheelchair Rugby World Cup for the first time in its history and finished in 11th place out of 12 participants. The contest took place in Vejle, Denmark.

The new technical staff, led by Benoit, will already lead the first week of training for the national team next month, between the 12th and the 18th. During his presentation, the coach announced a list of players summoned for the activity :

Gabriel Simplicio – Gigantes/SP
Bruno Landgraff – Ronins/SP
Cauê Borges Maia – Ronins/SP
Gilson Wirzma Jr. -Santer/RJ
Lucas Junqueira – Ronins/SP
Wellerson D’amato – MSB/SP
Julierme Augusto – Minas/MG
Mauricio Vieira – Irefes/ES
Raphael Cardoso – Gladiators/RP
Davidson Daniel – BSB/DF
Victor Vinicius – Irefes/ES
Anderson Kaiss – Gladiators/RP
David de Abreu – Minas/MG
Giuliano de Castro – Santer/RJ
Leonardo Gomes dos Santos – Irefes/ES
Marcílio Nunes dos Santos – Ronins/SP
Rafael Hoffmann – Gigantes/SP
Thiago Falconi – Minas/MG
Alexandre Taniguchi – Ronins/SP
Bruno Damaceno – Adeacamp/SP
Daniel Gonçalves – Santer/RJ
Jairo da Conceicao – Adeacamp/SP
Moisés Batista – Gladiadores/PR
Rodolfo Polidoro – Gigantes/SP
Alexandre Giuriato – Gigantes/SP
Matheus Soares – BSB/DF
Gabriel Feitosa – Santer/RJ
Julio Braz – Minas/MG
Thalys Juca Silva – Gigantes/SP

Sponsorship
Wheelchair Rugby is sponsored by Loterias Caixa.

Communications Office of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (imp@cpb.org.br)