Women's basketball guarantees gold and Amapá closes the 2023 Youth Games with 14 medals

Amapá ended its participation in the 2023 Youth Games, held in the city of Ribeirão Preto, in São Paulo, with 14 medals. The farewell, on Saturday, the 16th, was marked by the winning of the gold medal by the Gabriel de Almeida Café State School women’s basketball team.

The State Government invested R$700,000 in supporting the delegation with sports materials and tickets to guarantee the participation of athletes, coaches, physiotherapists and coordinators of the State Secretariat for Sports and Leisure (Sedel). The competition, promoted by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), brought together student-athletes, aged 15 to 17.

“We are very happy, we want to send a hug to our families, to everyone at Escola Gabriel de Almeida Café. Thank you for everyone’s support. The gold is ours and Amapá’s”said Maria, captain of the Amapá U-17 student team.

Gold girls

The Amapá team’s trajectory to winning the title of the 3rd division of women’s basketball began with the dispute in Group C, where they faced and beat representatives from Ceará, Amazonas and Roraima.

In the semifinals, Amapá beat Tocantins with a score of 35 to 31. In the decision, they secured the highest place on the podium by beating the Ceará team again, 30 to 20, guaranteeing the gold medal.

With the result, Amapá wins a place in the 2nd division of the category in 2024.

“I want to thank the Government and Sedel for their support for giving us this opportunity and bringing us here. I also thank the managers and teachers at Escola Gabriel de Almeida Café. Congratulations to the athletes. We came with a strong desire to win and overcame all obstacles. We remain undefeated until the gold! We deserve it!”, highlighted the coach and teacher, Hemerson Dias.

Final classification of the 3rd division

Amapá
Ceará
Tocantins
Sergipe
Bahia
Paraíba
Amazon
Acre
Alagoas
Piauí
Roraima

On the podium

The other 13 medals won by athletes from Amapá were in the individual categories of wrestling (Olympic wrestling), highlighting Matheus Araújo, who won gold and silver, taekwondo and athletics.

In the general medal table of the 2023 Youth Games, Amapá finished in 16th position, being the second best in the North Region, behind only Amazonas, which finished in 12th with three golds out of the 16 medals in total. The first placed were: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina.