BRAZILIANS PASS TO THE NEXT PHASE

The Brazilian athletes debuted with the "right foot" in the Table Tennis Brazilian Open. The silver medalist in the Pan-American 2003 Games (doubles), Gustavo Tsuboi and Bruno Anjos, won their matches on the opening round of the qualifying stage, as well as Cazuo matsumoto, Ricardo Kojima and Lidney Castro. Hugo Hoyama and Thiago Monteiro are pre-qualified.

                         

"I'm not practicing a lot, unfortunately, because of a tendonitis in my knee. But I could pass the chance of playing this Pro Tour in Brazil. My goal? To be a surprise the players who are well ranked", said  Tsuboi, 21 years old, who couldn't play for six months due to a back injury.

 

Mariany Nonaka, who represented Brazil in the Olympic Games in Athens, guarantees that she is back in her old shape. She is also disputing the qualifying. Ligia Silva is already in the main draw.

 

"During 2005 I was extremely unmotivated and now I'm happy again. I have a coach (Mauricio Kobayashi) who helps me a lot and I'm playing well again. My shape from the 2003 Pan-American Games and the Olympic is coming back. Now I have to get even better. I went to Santo Domingo in search of an experience. Now I practice thinking of something more", commented Mariany.