A crucial day in Lima 2019. A few hours before the Pan American Games Opening Ceremony, the competitions of this event continue and others, such as rugby and artistic skating, begin.

Modern pentathlon is a sport that includes swimming, equestrian, fencing and laser run (shooting and running). For this sport, the fencing competitions, in men’s and women’s singles, will be held from 09:00 to 15:00 at the Lima Convention Center in San Borja.

Beach volleyball competitions will continue at the Costa Verde venue in San Miguel with 16 preliminary matches, in men’s and women’s category, from 08:00 to 14:40.

The rugby competitions will kick off at the Villa María del Triunfo Sports Center with the women’s category, with matches between Colombia and Argentina (09:50), and United States vs. Trinidad and Tobago (10:15). At 10:40, Brazil and Peru will participate in a spectacular match, and Canada vs. Mexico (11:05) will close the session.

In men’s category, the stage is just as attractive with matches between Brazil and Chile (11:30), United States vs. Guyana (11:55), Canada vs. Uruguay (12:20) and Argentina vs. Jamaica (12:45).

NATIONAL SPORTS VILLAGE

Artistic skating is one of the other disciplines that begins prior to the Lima 2019 Opening Ceremony. Short sessions in men’s and women’s category have been scheduled from 10:00 to 12:00, at the National Sports Village (VIDENA) in San Luis.

As for squash, the quarterfinals for men’s singles, women’s and men’s doubles will take place from 08:00 to 12:00.

Women’s handball is the first team sport to take place at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games. The best female athletes of the Americas—many of them succeeding in Europe—started to compete in Sports Center 1, and the Peruvian team is one of the first teams to participate in the tournament.

The eight best women’s teams of the continent will seek to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Peruvian fans supported the national team with a lot of energy. The level of the competition is very high, due to the participation of the current five-time Pan American champion, Brazil, and the best North American teams.

So that you do not miss out on the action of the best handball competition of the Americas, please see the competition schedule:

PUERTO RICAN JOY

Puerto Rico kicked off the competition with a definitive victory against Canada, in a group where they will attempt to outmatch the favorite, Brazil. The top scorer of the match, Puerto Rican Nathalys Ceballos, highlighted that the conditions at the Games for the athletes are first-rate.

“These are my fourth Pan American Games and I’m having a great time with my teammates. We’re pleased with how Peruvians have prepared even the smallest detail to make us feel at home. The accommodation, the food and the sports atmosphere that surrounds us. It would be ideal if the weather were to improve, but everything else is first-rate,” said the Puerto Rican captain.

MEN’S COMPETITION

The men’s tournament will take place from July 31 to August 5. One of the matches will be Brazil vs Argentina. Both teams arrived with stars that stood out in the last season of the Handball Champions League, the best tournament in the world. In fact, the Brazilian pivot, Rogério Moraes, won the championship with Vardar of Macedonia and the setter Thiagus Petrus stood out with Barcelona of Spain. Argentina’s stars are brothers Diego, Pablo and Sebastián Simonet.

Group A consists of the United States, Cuba, Argentina and Chile, while Peru, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Brazil are in group B. Peru will make its debut against Puerto Rico, while Brazil will debut against Mexico. Argentina’s “Gladiators” will face the United States.

LIMA 2019 REGULATIONS

There will be a preliminary round with two groups of four teams each that will compete in a round-robin format. After the round robin, the first two teams will advance to the semifinals, where the first and second place of each group will compete. The winning teams of the semifinal will compete for the gold medal, and the losing teams will play for the bronze.

Meanwhile, teams in third and fourth place of each group will play a qualification round to determine places fifth to eighth. Starting from the semifinals, tied matches, after the two regular periods, will be decided in up to overtime periods. Only if the tie persists, it will be decided by penalty throws.

Tickets are available on the Pan American and Parapan American Games website: lima2019.pe/tickets. Another way to buy tickets is at any of the 11 authorized points of sale located in the Jockey Plaza shopping center, in Santiago de Surco, and the Metro and Wong supermarkets and stores in Chorrillos, Independencia, La Molina, Lima, Miraflores, San Borja, San Isidro, San Juan de Miraflores, San Miguel and Surco.

The cold morning could not diminish the enthusiasm of the people that went to the two beach volleyball courts located in the Costa Verde San Miguel venue. Sports’ fans enjoyed every point of the first competitions which opened the 2019 Pan American Games sports calendar.

As soon as the best duos of the continent entered the courts at the Costa Verde, the people lived the energy of their good performance. The stands were gradually filled with color and a group wearing the Peruvian football jersey started the celebration before Peru’s matches.

Then, a delegation of the Roque Sáenz Peña school joined in, and following the music and performance of the Sports Presentation team, celebrated the victories of the United States, Canada, Argentina and Costa Rica female duos. Each spike was effusively celebrated.

The Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games Organizing Committee President, Carlos Neuhaus; the President of Panam Sports, Neven Ilic; the Lima 2019 Sports Director, Gustavo San Martín, as well as the Lima 2019 Project and Infrastructure Manager Wilhelm Funcke attended the beach volleyball opening.

“Feeling Peruvian spectators cheering for us was very touching in this first competition day. We’re having a really nice experience here in Peru and we’re enjoying it a lot,” said the American athlete Jace Pardon.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL IN LIMA 2019

Beach volleyball will take place from July 24 to 30 with 32 of the best duos of the Americas at the two courts located in San Miguel. The system considers a preliminary round (with a round-robin format), quarterfinals, semifinals, finals and qualifying rounds for fifth and 16th place.

Peru women’s team will be represented by Alexandra Mendoza and Lisbeth Allca, top one of the U-20 South American ranking and fifth place at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championship. The Peruvian duo will compete against El Salvador, Cuba and Paraguay in its group. Meanwhile, the men’s team is formed by Bruno Seminario and Gabriel Vásquez and they will be competing against Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Venezuela.

There are still tickets available at the Pan American and Parapan American Games website: lima2019.pe/tickets. Tickets are also available at Jockey Plaza shopping center, Santiago de Surco, hypermarkets and shops of Metro and Wong in Chorrillos, Independencia, La Molina, Lima, Miraflores, San Borja, San Isidro, San Juan de Miraflores, San Miguel and Surco points of sale.