One week from now, a whistle will be heard at the Sports Center 1 of the VIDENA, signaling the start of the match between the Puerto Rican and Canadian teams. This will be the first match to take place in the women’s handball preliminary round. The competition is scheduled to begin at 13:00. On the other hand, the Peruvian team will make its debut against Dominican Republic at 15:30.

At 18:00. The Argentinian team will go against United States. Brazil and Cuba will not be left behind, as they have a match scheduled at 20:30.

The Brazilian team is ready to defend its title, which they won four years ago in Toronto, after beating the Argentinian team with a score of 29-27 and winning the gold medal.

The women’s events will continue on July 25, 27 and 29. And the finals will take place on July 30 at 20:30.

ARE YOU GOING TO MISS IT?

There are still a lot of matches left between the top teams in the continent, who are trying to secure a place at next years’ Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Get your tickets at www.lima2019.pe/tickets

Here are the schedule details:

The best prelude to the Lima 2019 Pan American Games Opening Ceremony will take place two days prior, with the competitions of the first two sports. The beach volleyball and handball competitions will kick off the main multi-sports event in the continent with the best athletes of the Americas.

The beach volleyball courts at Costa Verde San Miguel will be the stages for the 16 men’s and women’s matches. The first matches will be between the Canadian and Nicaraguan women’s teams on court 1 and the Argentinian and Guatemalan women’s teams on court 2.

The Peruvian women’s duo will make its debut against El Salvador (13:10) on court 1 while the men’s duo will play against the Dominican Republic starting at 14:50, at the end of the first day.

Alexandra Mendoza and Lisbeth Allca, first place in the South American U-20 ranking and historic fifth place at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championship, will represent Peru. Meanwhile, the Peruvian men’s duo consists of Bruno Seminario and Gabriel Vásquez.

See the complete calendar of the first day of beach volleyball:

WORLD-CLASS HANDBALL

In the afternoon, the VIDENA’s Sports Center 1 will host the first matches of women’s handball. The competition starts at 13:00, with the first match between Puerto Rico and Canada. Then, the Peruvian team will make its debut at Lima 2019 (15:30) against the Dominican Republic.

Moreover, the first day will include two other exciting matches: Argentina, one of the contenders for the gold medal, will face the United States and Brazil, the five-time Pan American champion and the favorite to win the gold, will play against Cuba at 20:30.

BUY YOUR TICKETS

You can buy your tickets for these matches on the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games website: www.lima2019.pe.

You can also buy your tickets at any authorized point of sale at the Metro and Wong supermarkets and stores in the districts of Chorrillos, Independencia, La Molina, Lima, Miraflores, San Borja, San Isidro, San Juan de Miraflores, San Miguel and Surco. It is worth noting that a new point of sale has recently opened at the Jockey Plaza shopping center in Santiago de Surco.

Canadian Brian Yang had an outstanding performance against Guatemalan Kevin Cordon and won the singles gold medal at the Peru International 2019 Badminton Tournament, which was held in the VIDENA Sports Center 3, a stage built by Lima 2019 for the Pan American and Parapan American Games that will start in 34 days.

Yang beat the tournament’s first favorite in a match lasting one hour and one minute, with match scores of 15-21, 21-13 and 21-12. This was considered a quality insight of what we will see during the Games, which will also take place in this stage.

In women’s, Indonesian Ghaida Nurul Ghaniyu took the crown. She beat Cuban Taymara Oropeza in the singles final by a double 21-14.

Peru closed the tournament with two bronze medals, both in the doubles matches. In women’s, the pair formed by Dánica Nishimura and Daniela Masías finished third, as well as the pair formed by Bruno Barrueto and Diego Subauste.

GUATEMALA BY TWO

Guatemala’s badminton is at its peak and it was proved by the pairs formed by Ruibén Castellanos and Aníbal Marroquín, who won in men’s, and Diana Corleto and Nikte Sotomayor, who won in women’s.

The fifth gold medal, which offered USD 10 000 in prizes, was won by the American pair formed by Howard Shu and Paula Lynn Obanana in mixed doubles.

The best players of the Badminton World Federation met this weekend at the Peru International 2019 tournament, leaving a positive balance as to the technical level expected for the Pan American Games. Tickets for the final to be held on August 2 are almost sold out.

Sports Center 3 in VIDENA will host the best matches between Canada, Guatemala, United States, Brazil and Peru, which will compete with a team of eight members including the female duo formed by Dánica Nishimura and Daniela Macías, bronze medal winners in the tournament that ended this Sunday.

Guatemala was the top winner with two gold and one silver medals. Although its leading figure, Kevin Cordon, could not defend his two-time Pan American champion title, and was defeated by the Canadian Brian Yang (15-21, 21-13 and 21-12). The final was an extraordinary match of technical resources, with a wide range of hits from the back and to the net.

For Cordon, gold medalist at Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015, it is just a warning of what he will experience against his main challengers: Canadian Jason Ho Shue and Brazilian Ygor Coelho. Both climbed in an unstoppable way in the world ranking and come to Lima to defeat the Guatemalan athlete. To watch these matches, you can buy your tickets at www.lima2019.pe/tickets.

In the Pan American Games, badminton is scheduled to take place from July 29 to August 2 at the Sports Center 3 in VIDENA. It will take place in singles, doubles (women's and men's), as well as mixed doubles. Each match will have three sets; the winner will be the first one to obtain 21 points.

OTHER WINNERS ALSO CELEBRATED

Guatemala reached the podium with Rubén Castellanos and Aníbal Marroquín; as well as the women’s pair formed by Diana Corleto and Nikte Sotomayor. Likewise, in women’s, the Indonesian Ghaida Nurul defeated the best badminton players of the Americas, winning against the Cuban Taymara Oropesa.

In mixed doubles, the US athletes Howard Shu and Paula Lynn Obanana defeated the Brazilians Fabricio Farías and Jaqueline Lima. In the end, Brazil obtained three silver and four bronze medals.

Everything is almost ready to welcome, in a few days, the best athletes of the Americas to the largest multi-sports event in the continent, to be held for the first time in Peru. On July, we will become the sports capital of the Americas and we will be on the spotlight during the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games.

We are only 30 days away from the start of sports competitions that will mark a major milestone for our country due to the relevance of this event as it is considered second in importance in the world after the Olympic Games.

On July 24, two days prior to the Pan American Games Opening Ceremony at the National Stadium, the official competitions will begin. The first one will be beach volleyball, which will be held in a new conditioned facility in Costa Verde, in the district of San Miguel.

There, the first women's competition will take place at 9:00 between Canada and Nicaragua and it will officially set off the Pan American Games in Peru. At the same time, Argentina will play against Guatemala in court 2. Immediately after, United States will face Trinidad and Tobago, and Colombia will compete against Costa Rica also in women's.

As for the men's competitions, they will start at 10:40 with Canada vs. Nicaragua and Chile vs, Mexico. Then, Brazil will play against Costa Rica and Cuba will face Uruguay.

After midday, competitions will resume with women's at 12:20 between Brazil and Virgin Islands, and Mexico vs. Chile. The Peruvian team will make its debut against El Salvador at 13:10. Cuba and Paraguay will play at the same time.

Then, it will be the turn of the men's category at 14:00 between United States and El Salvador, and Argentina vs. Trinidad and Tobago. At 14:50, the Peruvian men's team will face Dominican Republic and Guatemala will face Venezuela, which will bring the day to a close. These events will bring the beach volleyball opening day to a close.

AT VIDENA

Women's handball competitions will also start on July 24 and they will be held at VIDENA Sports Center 1, which has been conditioned and was built in advance for the Lima 2019 Games.

There, the opening day will start at 13:00 with the preliminary round. The first competition will be between Puerto Rico and Canada. The Peruvian team will make its debut against Dominican Republic at 15:30.

The competition will continue at 18:00 with the match between Argentina and United States. The match between Brazil and Cuba at 20:30 will bring the day to a close.

LIMA 2019 TICKET SALES

Tickets for Pan American Games preliminary events are already on sale and they start at PEN 20.00. There will be a 50% discount for children under 18, senior citizens and people with an impairment.

Tickets can only be bought in ten Lima 2019-authorized points of sale around the city. Learn more about their location:

Tickets can also be purchased online through the official website www.lima2019.pe, where you can find the sports calendar along with the detailed competition schedule.

In the case of e-tickets, printing will no longer be necessary since customers can show their e-ticket from their mobile phones at the entrance of the sports venue.

QUALIFICATION FOR TOKYO 2020

The Lima 2019 Pan American Games will include 39 sports and 61 disciplines, in which athletes will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals. There will be more sports than in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where a total of 32 sports will be featured. Out of all the Lima 2019 competitions, 22 are the qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The competitions offering qualification for Tokyo 2020 are: athletics, badminton, handball, swimming, artistic swimming, diving, equestrian sports (jumping, dressage and eventing), hockey, karate (kata and kumite), pentathlon, weightlifting, surf, tennis, table tennis, shooting, archery, triathlon, sailing and water polo.

Lima 2019 will be a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which guarantees the presence of the top athletes in these sport disciplines.