Africa-Press – Cape verde. The former instructor of capoeira practitioner Mayra Duarte, known as “Florzinha”, who won the gold medal at the European Capoeira Games in Lisbon, said this Friday that this achievement brought a “wave of pride to Cape Verde”.
Instructor Anderson da Cruz, also known as “Dumbo”, who has dedicated 18 years to the development of Capoeira in Boa Vista, expressed his immense satisfaction with his student’s victory and stated that the gold medal won by Mayra Duarte also “draws attention to the reality of the lack of support for the sporting potential”.
“It is through this work, over all this time, that this fruit has emerged and, for the first time in the history of Cape Verde, we have a European Capoeira champion”, stated Dumbo.
The instructor said that this year they made an exception in the competition and invited Africa to participate in the European competition, where some Cape Verdean athletes stood out, such as “Florzinha”, who was champion in the orange and blue category, and her sister, Josyenne Duarte, “Flor”, who came in fourth place in her category.
However, despite the potential of Cape Verdeans in capoeira, on a global level, Dumbo laments the fact that they do not have the resources to travel to competitions.
“We have competitions every year, but great athletes here in Cape Verde are unable to compete because of financial issues. Sometimes good athletes are left behind, those who have better financial conditions go, because no one supports them, and each person has to buy a ticket to go and compete”, lamented the instructor.
Dumbo also brought up the issue of visas, indicating that in addition to the athletes from São Vicente, Santiago and Sal, there was a delegation of 10 athletes from Boa Vista, who were unable to even get a place to book.
“Unfortunately, we were denied a visa by the Common Visa Center. We tried several times and they said they didn’t have any space for the appointment. We applied at Balcão Azul as an athlete, with the document and the invitation letter, to show that we were going to participate. They even asked for a statement from the city council (…) we sent it, but even so, they didn’t say anything positive in the email, only that they had a space,” says Dumbo.
The instructor and athlete believes that if they had gotten the visa, they would certainly have brought more medals and achievements “home”.
He reaffirmed that Cape Verde has “great potential” in terms of athletes, but that the government “doesn’t help much” in this area, and “the little support they do give” is more in terms of football, because in terms of other sports such as martial arts, there is not as much support, and capoeira even less, and that demotivates.
“Florzinha” was also recognized for the best game in Benguela and São Bento Grande. Nailton da Luz “Pirralho” and instructor Vady “Macaco Branco” from São Vicente represented Cape Verde and reached the quarter finals. Joelson Garcia “Escuridão” also secured fourth place in his category.
The European Games took place from April 17 to 21 in the city of Lisbon, and around 600 capoeiristas from more than 20 countries participated, including Brazil, Cape Verde and Angola.
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