The competition takes place from April 20 to 22 in Rio de Janeiro.

The 12 strong Brazilian team was selected by manager Leonardo Maiola.

Brazil will go up against Argentina, Canada, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Venezeula, and Maiola is confident heading into the tournament.

"Brazil is one of the major powers in the sport, and we are expecting to finish first in all disputes," he said.

Maiola rates world champion Fernando Fernandes (pictured above), a former Brazilian model who has appeared in advertising campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana and a Big Brother contestant who was paralysed from the waist down in a car accident in July 2009, as a strong hope for this month's competition.


"Fernando Fernandes is favourite to win the K1 and K1 TA A," he insisted.

Maiola also picked out Marta Ferreira Santos as another contender for glory in Rio.

Both Santos and Fernandes starred for Brazil at last year's International Canoe Federation Para Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.

They each won their respective world titles in the K1 200 metres as Brazil was one of four nations to come away from Hungary with two gold medals from the tournament.

Brazil began its para-canoe programme 11 years ago, and the sport will make its debut at the Paralympics in four years' time when the Games come to Rio de Janeiro.

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