Jose Paulo Lopez is the sixth swimmer and 62nd Portuguese qualifier in Tokyo.

ABOUT The athlete from Sporting de Braga made his Olympic debut, improving his national record (02/07/16) to 07: 52.81 minutes, becoming the sixth Portuguese swimmer with a guaranteed presence in Tokyo pools, joining Gabriel Lopes and Alexis Santos. in the 200 meters, Tamila Golub and Diana Durains, both in the 1,500 meters freestyle, and Ana Catarina Monteiro, in the 200 meters butterfly.

The 20-year-old integrated master’s student in mechanical engineering and production management at Minho University has reached the second round of the European qualification in Budapest, where he will still play in the distance finals on Saturday.

Jose Paulo Lopez’s qualifications began shortly after Joana Vasconcelos finished eighth in Portuguese canoeing in Siberia.

The 30-year-old canoeist from Vila Nova de Gaia took first place in the 500m K1 race, winning the last qualifying event held in Barnaul, Russia, repeating her presence in London 2012 – she finished sixth in the races K2 500 with Beatrice Gomez and K4 500 with Helena Rodriguez, Beatriz Gomez and Teresa Portela.

The former Benfica athlete, currently without a club, expanded the sports environment, which already included Fernando Pimenta at K1 1000 meters, Emanuel Silva, Joao Ribeiro, Messias Baptista and David Varela at K4 500 and Teresa Portela at K1 200, in the speed of the competition. canoeing in Toquio2020 and Antoine Lainay in slalom.

Vasconcelos’ return to the Olympic competition follows the confirmation of Portugal’s debut in the Women’s Olympic Cross Country (XCO) by the UCI, following a qualification process that was mainly attended by Raquel Queiros.

Thus, the number of cycling spots increased to four, including another debut, also in women, with Maria Martins in track cycling, after qualifying through the omnium rating.

In road cycling, Portugal will have two spots in Tokyo up to 23rd in the Olympic rankings, giving Portugal the right to participate in the background race with two cyclists, one of whom will be admitted to the time trial.

Nelson Oliveira’s eighth place in the 2019 World Time Trial allowed Portugal to use two cyclists on a chrono for the first time at the Olympic Games.

Handball continues to be the most representative sport in the Portuguese delegation since Portugal first took part in the sport and “officially” made its debut in the collective sports pavilion following Portugal’s participation in the 1992 Barcelona Roller Hockey Show Tournament.

In the pre-Olympic tournament, the quinas team, led by Paulo Jorge Pereira, a few days after the death of goalkeeper Alfredo Quintana, secured a final-second triumph over France with a 29-28 score, with a goal from captain Rui Silva ensuring the presence of 14 handball players.

Even with a smaller representation, athletics has 11 guaranteed places, three of which are in the women’s marathon, following the qualifications of Carla Salome Rocha (02: 24.47 hours), Sara Catarina Ribeiro (02: 26.40 hours) and Sara Moreira (02: 26.42 ).

Pedro Pablo Picciardo and Patricia Mamona, both European Athletics Champions, are guaranteed to compete in the triple jump, as is Evelis Veiga, and Auriol Dongmo, also the Continental Athletics Champion, will be in the weight launch.

Launchers Francisco Belu (in weight) and Liliana Ca (on disc) will also debut at the Games, and João Vieira, 45, has a qualification mark in the 50 km race and is due to participate in the Games for the sixth time. although she did not start the 20 km march in Sydney 2000, becoming the second luso with more attendance, one of the sailors João Rodrigues, while Ana Cabecinha secured her place on the 20 km march.

This is followed by sailing with the “recurring” Jorge Lima and Jose Costa, who in 49th class were the first Portuguese to establish a presence in Tokyo2020, to which 24-year-old Carolina Joao joined Laser in 2021. Radial competition, brothers Diogo Costa and Pedro Costa, 470.

Equestrian has already guaranteed four spots, and Luciana Diniz, ninth in Rio 2016, guarantees her participation in the obstacle course, although it has not yet been officially announced that she will be a Luso-Brazilian heading for Tokyo.

Previously, the coaching team had already provided three athletes: places in the European Championship were won by Maria Cayetano, Rodrigo Torres, Joao Miguel Torrao and Duarte Nogueira.

Portugal will also be represented in table tennis by the men’s team that won their group in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

In Gondomar, already Olympians Marcos Freitas, Thiago Apolonia and Joao Monteiro secured a new presence in the team competition, in which they were knocked out by Austria in the first round in Rio 2016.

The team’s qualifications also guaranteed the two Portuguese a spot in the individual competition. In 2016, Portugal representatives were Marcos Freitas, who lost in the quarterfinals, and Thiago Apolonia, who were eliminated in the third round.

Fu Yu has already secured a presence in the women’s table tennis tournament through his participation in the European Games finals.

Pedro Fraga and Afonso Costa secured the light doubles qualification and ensured the return of national rowing to the Games after their absence from Rio 2016.

Veteran Pedro Fraga, 38, from Academica, will take part in the Olympics for the third time, now alongside young Afonso Costa from Naval Setubalense, 25, after fifth place in London 2012 and eighth place in Beijing 2008 in partnership with Nuno Mendes. …

Rui Braganza, 29, stamped his passport for his second consecutive Olympic stint in the 58kg Olympic Taekwondo Tournament, as did Philipa Martins in artistic gymnastics.

Back at the Olympics, we will shoot hunting weapons with João Paulo Azevedo in the Olympic moat.

In his debut, he will surf alongside Frederico Morais as the best European athlete at the 2019 World Cup.

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.

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