Brazilian para-athletes (left to right) Alan Oliveira, Yohansson Nascimento, Terezinha Guilhermina and her guide Guilherme Soares de Santana with the schoolchildren.

By Sports Reporter/Doha

With just one week to go to the Doha 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships, multiple Paralympic and world champions, Terezinha Guilhermina, Alan Oliveira and Yohansson Nascimento of Brazil, hosted a session with students at Bilal bin Rabah School yesterday.
The Doha 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships are the largest para-sport event ever to come to the Middle East and will be held at Qatar Sports Club October 21-31. As many as 1,300 athletes from 100 countries will be competing to be the best in the world and vie for qualifying spots to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Athletes from around the world have already begun arriving in Doha ahead of the World Championships to begin the crucial final stages of their training ahead of the World Championships. Brazilian superstars Guilhermina, Oliveira and Nascimento took advantage of their early arrival to inspire and engage Qatari schoolchildren in the World Championships. The three athletes hosted a session with the students and answered their questions about para-sport.
Speaking ahead of the World Championships, Guilhermina said: “These World Championships are very important because they are going to take place in Qatar, in the Middle East, a place where para-sports are not that well known. I believe that after the World Championships new athletes will emerge on the world stage, taking us to places where we haven’t been before. Being able to participate is such a privilege, and hopefully this world event will leave a legacy for Qatar itself and for the Middle East.”
All three athletes will be looking to use the World Championships to qualify for next year’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete in a Paralympic Games in front of a home crowd. Arguably the best female para-sprinter the world has ever seen, Guilhermina will face stiff competition from China’s rising star, Cuiqing Liu, currently ranked second in the world and fast improving. Guilhermina has a total of seven World Championship gold medals, and three gold, one silver and two bronze Paralympic medals. The Brazilian sprinter also holds the world record in the 100m, 200m, and 400m T11 events.
Guilhermina’s compatriot Oliveira competes in the 100m, 200m and 400m T43 events and currently holds the world record for the 100m, and 200m events. The Brazilian, a double-leg amputee, has won three World Championship gold medals, and one gold and one silver Paralympic medals.
Nascimento is the reigning 200m T46 World and Paralympic Champion, as well as the 2013 World bronze medallist in the 100m T46 and a Paralympic silver medallist in the 400m T46. He famously proposed to his girlfriend after winning gold at London 2012 by unfolding a written note and displaying it in front of a television camera.
Speaking about the school visit, Doha 2015 Local Organising Committee CEO and Qatar Paralympic Committee executive director Ameer al-Mulla said: “We are very grateful to the Brazilian athletes for taking the time to come down and host a masterclass with our schoolchildren today. They are two of the best para-athletes in the world and they have really inspired the children to see that it is possible to achieve anything despite your circumstance. We hope that hosting the Doha 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships will inspire a new generation of athletes and spread awareness about para-sport.”
Tickets are on sale now at https://doha2015.q-tickets.com and at Qatar Olympic Committee booths in Villaggio, City Centre and Landmark malls. All proceeds of ticket sales will be donated to charity.