Sports competitions are still going strong and even more so with the first-rate infrastructure that is now available thanks to the Lima 2019 Games, event that recently took place in our country and that was considered as the best Games in the history of our continent.

VIDENA is one of these venues, where the table tennis pre-Olympic tournament will take place starting on October 25, with the best teams of the Americas fighting for a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The opening ceremony will start at 10:00 and matches will be held during the afternoon, from Friday 25 to Sunday 27.

As a qualifying event, this will be the first major tournament, after the end of the Pan American and Parapan American Games, that will be hosted in Sports Center 3 of VIDENA, built for the Lima 2019 Games.

This international tournament will gather Americas’ most prominent athletes: Hugo Calderano from Brazil and Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico, gold medalists at the Pan American Games who qualified individually to Tokyo 2020.

In addition, Brazilians Vitor Ishiy, Pan American champion in Asunción 2019, and Bruna Takahashi bronze medalist in singles and in doubles with Jessica Yamada, silver medalist in mixed doubles with Gustavo Tsuboi and silver medalist in teams with Caroline Kumahara and Jessica Yamada at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, will participate in the tournament. Chile, Argentina and Peru will also take part.

Therefore, a high-level competition will be contested at VIDENA, the largest Lima 2019 venue.

SOUTH AMERICAN VOLLEYBALL

Meanwhile, in Callao, the Girls’ U16 South American Volleyball Championship will begin on Wednesday 23, at the magnificent Callao Sports Center. The competition will take place until Sunday, October 27.

Peru’s junior team, coached by Gina Torrealva, will face Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile. Peru debuts today against Paraguay at 17:00 on the main stage of Callao Sports Center.

RUGBY, HOCKEY AND BASEBALL AT VILLA MARÍA DEL TRIUNFO

Another venue living a sport-filled weekend will be Villa María del Triunfo Sports Center, main stage of the Lima 2019 team sports. This Sunday, October 27. and Sunday, November 17, the “Women’s Rugby Super Cup” will be held, with the reopening of the rugby stadium, stage of the Pan American and Parapan American Games. This tournament will be divided into two categories: experienced players and amateur players, as stated by the Peruvian Rugby Federation.

At the same time, the semifinals of the closing event of the Men’s Metropolitan Rugby Tournament will take place in the same stadium, which has two fields, starting at 09:00. It will be a full day of rugby.

At the same time, and at the same Lima Sur venue, the National Hockey Championship will continue to be contested by the best national clubs. Meanwhile, at the baseball stadium, national league will be played. With all this activity, the Villa María del Triunfo Sports Center will witness lots of competitions in its different stages, specially built to host the Pan American and Parapan American Games. It is now an important center for sport development. Admission is free at the Villa María del Triunfo Sports Center.

The Pan American and Parapan American Games organization will participate this Friday, October 25, in the Panel on Lima 2019’s Legacy. The event is organized by the Centro de Estudios en Derecho del Deporte of the Universidad San Martin de Porres law school.

The event will start at 12:00 in the Focum Culturae auditorium of university’s law school, in La Molina. The president of the Lima 2019 Games Organizing Committee, Carlos Neuhaus, will participate in the meeting and share his experience leading the work group responsible for the most important multi-sports event of the Americas.

Those who wish to attend the Lima 2019 Panel “The Legacy” can register at the following link and access the auditorium on a first-come, first-served basis: http://intranet.derecho.usmp.edu.pe:8080/EVENTOS/reg_per_eventos.jsp.

Ernesto Álvarez, dean of the law school, will also attend the event and will be in charge of opening the panel and introducing Carlos Neuhaus, who will then talk about the legacy that Lima 2019 is leaving for Peru. Natalia Rey de Castro, head of the Legacy of Lima 2019; Karin Sierralta, Lima 2019 advisor; and former presidents of the Peruvian Institute of Sport, Saúl Barrera and Óscar Fernández, will also participate in the event.

Being confident about the vision of the organization is what made the difference in terms of successfully achieving the objectives of the Pan American and Parapan American Games,” assured the head of Human Resources for Lima 2019, Walter Zuñiga.

At the “Trasciende Lima 2019” workshop, he explained that the leaders knew how to communicate objectives across all the project’s levels. “It’s very important that the organization and senior management communicate clearly the objective to the entire team,” he added.

He also stated that teamwork and confidence in collaborators were essential to solve various problems that arose.

With that in mind, he highlighted that all collaborators knew how to make the most of the project in each department and carry out their tasks and activities responsibly, observing deadlines and following rules as a principle.

In the context of this results, he said that the Lima 2019 team can now offer and transfer this successful experience to other government institutions.

“Trasciende Lima 2019” is the Organizing Committee’s proposal that helps collaborators prepare for the separation process. “The project has undertaken this process so that they can relocate in the job market,” he said.

“I hope this workshop has been and will be helpful,” he concluded.

The sports infrastructure legacy of Lima 2019 has been gaining importance in the last few days by hosting national and international tournaments at the venues built for the Pan American and Parapan American Games, with top competition conditions.

The Callao Sports Center, modern infrastructure built in the heart of the Regional Village in Peru’s first port, will host the Girls’ U16 South American Championship from Wednesday, October 23, to Sunday, October 27, where the continent’s promising young volleyball stars will be competing.

Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and the host, Peru, will participate in the international competition.

The Peruvian team, led by Seoul 88 Olympic medalist Gina Torrealba, will debut on October 24 at 17:00 against Paraguay. The team dreams of winning the South American title on a world-class stage, which was built for the Games in order to make Lima the “House of Volleyball.” The competition will follow the round-robin system.

It begins on Wednesday 23 with Ecuador versus Paraguay (15:00) and Chile versus Bolivia (17:00). The next day, Peru will debut and the day will start with Bolivia versus Ecuador (15:00). The Peruvian team will also compete on October 25 against Ecuador (17:00). The following day, they will face Bolivia (16:00) and their closing match is on October 27 against Chile (16:00) in the “Classic of the Pacific.”

During the friendly match between the Peru’s and Uruguay’s national football teams, the team led by Ricardo Gareca congratulated athletes and Para athletes who won medals at the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games, accompanied by the applause of the crowd.

This took place minutes before the friendly match started at the National Stadium, which was also the venue for the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games ceremonies.

Pan American medalists Alexandra Grande, María Belén Bazo, Daniella Rosas, Sol Romaní, Ingrid Aranda, Andrea Almarza, Thalía Mallqui, Carlos Lam, John Trebejo, Kevin Martínez, Vania Torres, Nicolás Pacheco, Hugo del Castillo, Renzo Saux, Mariano Wong, among others, as well as Parapan American medalists Angélica Espinoza, Noemí Vásquez, Rodrigo Santillán, Fred Villalobos and William Fernández were present at the event.

Members of Peru’s national football team formed two lines and the athletes walked in the middle as they entered the National Stadium field, as is custom in European football. Most of the medalists were greeted by Paolo Guerrero, captain of the team led by Ricardo Gareca. Pedro Gallese, Renato Tapia and Edison Flores also shook hands with the athletes who made history during Lima 2019.

The Peruvian delegation obtained 39 medals during the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games and 15 during the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games, their best performance in these types of competitions. These Games were described as the “best in history” according to international organizations such as Panam Sports and the Americas Paralympic Committee.

PHOTO GALLERY: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lima2019juegos/albums/72157711368251487

Thanks to their great performances during the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, Colombia’s Mariana Pajón and Cuba’s Julio César La Cruz were selected as the 2019 Best Athletes of the Americas at the ANOC Awards in Doha, Qatar, during the meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

Pajón won the BMX cycling competition in the Costa Verde San Miguel course, where she made it to the top of the podium, winning the gold at the Lima 2019 Games, despite being inactive for over a year because of an injury. The Colombian athlete won the award for the best female athlete of the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.

The award ceremony was held by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in Doha, where they highlighted the Colombian athlete’s achievements, as she is a double Olympic medalist and world, Pan American and South American BMX champion.

“It’s amazing. I’m very surprised, because there’s a very large group of very talented athletes in our continent so, this award is a motivation for what’s next,” said Mariana Pajón.

Cuban boxer Julio César La Cruz, who won the gold in the -81 kg competition in the ring in the Miguel Grau Coliseum in Callao during the Lima 2019 Games, took home the award for Best Male Athlete of the Pan American Games during the ANOC Awards.

Julio César La Cruz also won the gold medal in boxing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. At age 29, he won his third consecutive Pan American gold medal in -81 kg, after his success in Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015.

The future stars of Peruvian athletics gathered, for three days, at the Athletics Stadium of the National Sports Village (VIDENA). Many of the young athletes experienced their first competition in a world class stage, which was built to host the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games.

The modern Athletics Stadium, which has an alternate warm-up stage, reopened its doors after hosting—only a few days ago—the National School Sports Games, and after having been the venue for the Lima 2019 athletics championship.

This time, the U-18 National Championship was contested and Liga de Barranco was crowned champion after scoring 164 points in the men’s category and 118 points in women’s category, for a total of 282 points.

Verónica Huacasi (Platería, Puno) and Guido Bustamante (Puno) achieved two of the best technical marks during this competition. Huacasi reached the mark in the 2000 m steeplechase and Bustamante did it in the 3000 m race.

Huacasi’s time was 7m 14s 56c, winning her the gold and the top technical mark, as well as adding 892 IAAF points. On the other hand, Bustamante finished his race with a time of 8m 30s 86c in the 3000 m event. With this mark, Bustamante beat the national U-18 record set in 2004 by Mario Bazán, with 8m 33s 06c in Guyana.

The U-18 National Championship gathered athletes from Lima and across the country, in addition to Bustamante and Huacasi, including Gabriel Cubas, Lucero Choca and Anthony Farfán.

The National Championship for children is set to take place early November, for the U-12, U-14 and U-16 categories, in the same Athletics Stadium, which has become a great legacy for sports practice in Peru.

Considered one of the best stages for cycling in the continent, the remodeled velodrome of the National Sports Village (VIDENA) saw some sports action again after the end of the Pan American and Parapan American Games.

During the weekend, the venue that hosted the best cyclists and Para cyclists of the Americas at Lima 2019, welcomed the national athletes competing in the National Cycling Championship. For many, this was their first experience at a stadium in top competition conditions, as well as one approved by the Union Cycliste Internationale.

The competitions were held on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13, both for men’s and women’s, in the Elite, Junior and U-17 categories. Lima 2019 sports equipment and material were used to test the speed, skills, dexterity and stamina of the athletes.

The best athletes from Arequipa, Pisco, Huancayo and Lima participated in the National Championship, competing in keirin, speed, individual pursuit, scratch, kilometer time trial, 500 m time trial and omnium events.

Among the main winners were Francis Cachique in kilometer time trial, and Rubén Salinas and Aurelio Saldaña in the elite category. Furthermore, Maximiliano Coila from Arequipa won the junior event, followed by Leonardo Ramos and Sebastián Corrales. Coila also won in scratch, escorted by Jorge García and Sebastián Corrales. In the same event but U-17, Axel Castro was the champion and he also won the title in the point race.

In the U-17 500 m time trial event, Walter Pasache from Pisco won, followed by Axel Castro and Dalmiro Mamani from Arequipa. The champion in the women’s category was Madeley Gálvez from Pisco, escorted by Luz Loayza and Betsabet Coila. Madeley Gálvez also placed first in U-17 scratch.

In keirin, elite category, Francis Cachique was the winner, while Maximiliano Coila won in the Junior category. The individual pursuit competition was very exciting and Hugo Ruiz won, escorted by Alonso Gamero and André Gonzales, and Bill Toscano won in the junior category.

The second session was held on Sunday, in which Hugo Ruiz stood out in the omnium Elite category results, escorted by Alonso Gamero and Alaín Quispe. In the speed final (Elite), the winner was Francis Cachique, while Leonardo Ramos from Paracas won in the junior category. The U-17 men’s and women’s titles were awarded to Axel Castro and Madeley Gálvez, respectively.

MODERN STAGE

The velodrome has a 250-meter track. The track is made of African wood and, thanks to the remodeling, it now has a ceiling that turns it into an indoor stage.

It has capacity for 2300 spectators and the track is seven meters wide. It has cambers (elevation at curves), with a 42-degree angle.

The velodrome has changing rooms and showers, a common area for athletes, a judges’ area, first aid stations for athletes and spectators, among its main features.

PHOTO GALLERY: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lima2019juegos/albums/72157711335137196

The president of the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games Organizing Committee, Carlos Neuhaus, was honored once again. This time, the School of Journalists of Peru honored him for his successful work that resulted in Peru being considered as the host of the best Games in history.

The dean of the School of Journalists of Peru, Max Obregón, gave a medal of honor for civic merit and a diploma to Carlos Neuhaus, in recognition of his work managing the work team that prepared and organized the continent’s greatest multi-sports event in our country with such great results.

At the ceremony which took place in the headquarters of the School of Journalists in Lince, Neuhaus highlighted the work of journalists in broadcasting the event that took place in our country during the last few months.

“I feel moved by this honor, although our goal was not to receive so many awards, but to fulfill the challenge of organizing an event like the Pan American and Parapan American Games, which had never been held in our country before. We have made Peru proud and now Chile faces a great challenge,” stated Neuhaus.

The vice-dean of the College of Journalists of Lima, Lidia López de Castilla, also participated in this event. The executives pointed out that Neuhaus was honored because he was the leader of the Lima 2019 Games, which have become a source of pride for Peru.

Lima, Friday, October 11. Lima 2019 held a ceremony to honor the work of micro and small companies (Mypes) that stood out as Mype producers of the goods acquired through the Executing Nucleus of Kit Purchases for the Special Project for the Preparation and Development of the 2019 XVIII Pan American Games and Sixth Parapan American Games, for the most important multi-sports event in the continent.

Thus, Lima 2019 recognized the Mypes that produced standardized goods that complied with the quality standards required by the Special Project of the Pan American and Parapan American Games. To achieve this, they received technical assistance and support of Pan American Executing Nucleus of Kit Purchases (NEC) and FONCODES.

A total of 301 micro and small companies from across the country participated in the procurement process for Lima 2019. The recognition went to 50 Mypes dedicated to woodwork, metalwork and textiles, that stood out for their quality and timeliness in their product delivery.

Carlos Neuhaus, president of Lima 2019; Amalia Moreno, executive secretary of Lima 2019; Wilber Venegas, director of FONCODES; and Arturo Legua, representative of the Ministry of Production, participated in the ceremony at the Athletics Stadium of VIDENA.

Carlos Neuhaus thanked the micro and small companies for their efforts in complying with the organization’s objectives. “I’m very thankful and, so, I congratulate you. At first, no one believed we would be able to organize such an important event, and we did it with everyone’s help. They did not think we would deliver the best Games in history, and it was the result of joint effort. You (Mypes) were a part of that,” stated the president of Lima 2019.

“We went through a lot during the organization, but we could not let down Peru. We did all of this for the athletes. We had three years of intense work. We pulled off the Games under budget and in a time frame not many expected. Lima 2019 is a source of pride for Peru, but here ‘we all play,’ not only workforce. You should also feel proud about what you have done for the Games. We have achieved something great for the country and it belongs to everyone. Your work is priceless,” declared Carlos Neuhaus during the touching ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of Lima 2019, Amalia Moreno, said that “we make a great team. Everyone who believed in Peru and those who trusted the work of Mypes got together. Here, we all play and we all win. You are leaving a business legacy. That is why we decided to reward you commitment, high qualifications and excellence. You also contributed to the success of the Games. You have made uniforms and furniture that are a source of national pride. Now we have the capacity to export; everyone is looking at this type of system.”

“You have gone down in history with the work done. You achieved the goal and showed what Peru was capable of. You have played, won and triumphed. I hope you fall in love with sports in order to keep growing,” she added.

Wilber Venegas, on behalf of FONCODES and the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, pointed out that thanks to Lima 2019, 3800 direct jobs were created in the over 300 Mypes that worked for the Games.

Lima 2019 bought furniture and other goods for approximately 22 million soles under the MYPErú Purchases program, which belongs to the Ministry of Production and with the assistance of FONCODES (MIDIS); the Executing Nucleus of Purchases (NEC) was established for this purpose. All of this contributed to the successful organization of one of the best Games in history in Peru.

AWARD FOR DEDICATION

The recognition is a product of an assessment of the Mypes that participated in the Games, taking into account the following criteria: timeliness of sample approval, delivery times, number of required operators, production process numbers, approval of audits and other operational aspects.

In order to promote excellence in national production, the Special Project identified the Mypes that scored 19 and 20 in the production process. From these, those that made their deliveries by the deadline, an essential factor for the development of the Games.

Hence, Lima 2019 decided to recognize 50 Mypes that participated in the production process of the goods acquired by Lima 2019, which stood out for their quality and timely delivery. They all received a diploma of recognition for their work. Herbert Figueroa, president of Lima 2019 Games NEC Kits, was also awarded.

NEC KITS

The Executing Nucleus of Kit Purchases for the Special Project for the Preparation and Development of the 2019 XVIII Pan American Games and Sixth Parapan American Games, known as the Pan American Games NEC Kits, was set up on January 30, 2019.

The Pan American Games NEC Kits oversaw a total of 24,456,803 soles for the procurement and management processes carried out. Of this, 22 million soles were allocated directly to the Mypes for the purchase of goods required by Lima 2019.

A total of 212, 524 goods were purchased from 301 Mypes for the development of the Games: 267 micro and 34 small companies; 240 of the 301 Mypes hired (79.5%) were located in the districts of San Juan de Lurigancho, Villa El Salvador, Los Olivos, Ate, San Luis, Comas, Puente Piedra and Carabayllo.

Among the products purchased for the Games were wooden and melamine furniture; metalwork furniture; textile uniforms for volunteers, referees and torchbearers; and fencing.