The “blanquirroja” will do their best in handball. The Peruvian men’s handball team will take the field to face their Mexican counterpart at the National Sports Village (VIDENA), in this discipline's third day of competition at Lima 2019. 

The match will start at 15:30, after the match between United States and Chile (13:00). Then, Argentina will face Cuba at 18:00. The last match of the day (Friday, August 2) will be between Brazil and Puerto Rico (20:30). 

On August 2, many competitions will enter decisive or medal-definition stages. This is the case of diving where athletes will compete at the VIDENA as of 10:00 to earn Pan American medals in men’s and women’s categories. 

Surfing will also have their women’s and men’s finals at the Punta Rocas Sports Center. Athletes will compete in stand up paddle (SUP) starting at 09:00. Tomorrow, Peruvian athlete Melanie Giunta will compete in the fourth repechage heat in women’s open. 

Meanwhile, at 11:30, shooting will have its men’s finals in air rifle and women’s finals in skeet at the Las Palmas Air Base Shooting Range. 

BOXING NIGHT 

On the other hand, the ring of Miguel Grau Coliseum at Regional Sports Village in Callao will be the stage of a night full of jabs and uppercuts in boxing. As of 19:00, gold medal finals will be held in the men’s flyweight (46-49 kg), bantamweight (56 kg), welterweight (64 kg), and middleweight (75 kg) categories. In addition, the heavyweight match between Cuban Erislandy Savón Cotilla and Ecuadorian Julio César Castillo Gómez will also take place. 

In the women’s category, athletes will compete for the gold in flyweight (48-51 kg), lightweight (57-60 kg), and middleweight (69-75 kg). 

Meanwhile, the men’s basketball 5x5 matches of group B will start at 10:30 at the Eduardo Dibós Coliseum in San Borja, with a match between Uruguay and Dominican Republic. At 13:30, Mexico and Argentina will face each other. And at 18:30, Virgin Islands will compete against Venezuela for group A, and then Puerto Rico against United States for group B, which is the last match of the tournament’s preliminary rounds.  

MORE DISCIPLINES TO COMPETE 

From 10:05, the baseball stadium of the Villa María del Triunfo Sports Center will be the stage of intense matches, which will determine the countries that will have a chance to pick up medals.  Moreover, the Río Cañete in Lunahuaná will debut as the venue of men’s and women’s canoe slalom. 

Track cycling competitions will take place at the velodrome of the VIDENA as of 11:05. The Army Equestrian School, in La Molina, will host the individual and team equestrian events. Rhythmic gymnastics will have the individual qualification competitions in hoop and ball at the Villa El Salvador Sports Center.  

As for tennis, starting at 11:00, the quarterfinals of men’s and women's singles will take place at the Lawn Tennis Club, as well as the semifinals for men’s and women’s doubles. 

Finally, the men’s preliminary rounds of volleyball will begin at 12:30 at the Callao Sports Center, with the participation of the Peruvian national team.

The Club Lawn Tennis de la Exposición was the stage of the tennis competitions. Juan Pablo Varillas won two times in a row and now he will compete for the gold. He booked a place in the singles quarterfinals and then got into the men’s doubles semifinals, along with Sergio Galdós. 

Fans cheered on them from the grandstands of the main stadium at all times. This helped Varillas and Galdós beat their Brazilian opponents after a bad start. Tomorrow, they will face Facundo Banis and Guido Andreozzi from Argentina. Additionally, Varillas will compete against Marcelo Barrios from Chile in singles. 

“Fans were really excited for the matches. They cheered on us in every set and encouraged us when we nearly fell. That helped us bounce back in the second doubles set. We were playing as locals. I’m really happy with these two victories, and I trust Sergio (Galdós) and I can win the next match. We’ll play with no expectations. We’ll see how the game goes on the field,” he added. 

Meanwhile, the doubles player Sergio Galdós said they work well together. “All doubles pairs have worked hard to make it to this stage. We’re playing against the best doubles players, so we’ll give our best to get a medal for our sport,” he said. 

Moreover, the Peruvian coach Américo “Tupi” Venero mentioned he wanted to share with them the experience of playing with a positive environment. “None of these kids has ever played at a packed stadium and tomorrow we’ll have more spectators at the Lawn Tennis. It’s important that they are not only physically but also mentally strong. We’re leveling up. So, the people’s support makes me feel relieved. 

TENNIS AT LIMA 2019 

Tennis competitions will be held at the stadium of the Lawn Tennis Club, until August 4. This game is played in singles and doubles, in men’s and women’s category, and in mixed doubles. A total of 80 tennis players, both male and female, from 16 countries will participate in the Games, competing in a knock-out format. 

There will be six stages in men’s singles, starting with a round of 64, and five stages in both women’s singles and men's doubles, starting with a round of 32. Meanwhile, athletes will start competing in a round of 16 in women’s doubles and mixed doubles. 

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Marko Carrillo’s hard work was worth it. This afternoon, he reached the podium at Lima 2019 with a bronze medal, which was celebrated by the audience at Las Palmas Shooting Range. He finished fourth in 10 m air pistol. And two days later, he took revenge by placing third in 25 m rapid fire pistol.

Carrillo also successfully qualified for Tokyo 2020, despite not reaching either the first or second place that would have granted him direct qualification. Cuba claimed the gold and silver medal thanks to Jorge Álvarez and Leuris Pupo, respectively. However, the island representatives had already secured a quota place each.

This way, Marko Carrillo is the sixth Peruvian athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games next year, after the marathon runner Christian Pacheco, the race walkers Mary Luz Andia and Kimberly García, the shooter Alessandro de Souza, the cyclist Royner Navarro, and the sailor Stefano Peschiera. With Carrillo’s victory, Peru has the same number of medals it obtained at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.

A large crowd moved through the Stadium of the National University of San Marcos just minutes before the first day of competition of the U-22 Peruvian team against Uruguay. They headed towards the entrance of the stadium, singing the famous songs that have made them the best fans in the world. 

The stands of the remodeled Stadium of the National University of San Marcos were full of fans dressed in red and white.  

Regardless of the final result, the fans will always support the Peruvian team. They rely on the ability and skills of the team led by Nolberto Solano.  

Therefore, they cheered on the eleven football players, who would give their best.  

In this way, Peruvian fans claimed their position as hosts of the most important multi-sports event of the Americas. 

Peru has never had such a large delegation in a sports competition. No delegation in history has ever come close to the 592 athletes who moved many spectators to tears while enthusiastically parading at the National Stadium. This was the stage that witnessed their sacrifice to be part of the most important competition in the Americas, only behind the Olympic Games. 

Stefano Peschiera was in charge of leading the national delegation to the beat of Peruvian music, which has now regained its place in the worldwide scene. Now, 400 million people are aware that Peru has very good music and outstanding athletes. Peschiera was the flag bearer. Like him, many athletes arrived with many dreams and had the privilege of carrying their flag. All of them were applauded by an audience that enjoyed every moment of the magical night at the National Stadium.  

Lima 2019 was so special that the Brazilian delegation was led by two athletes: Kahena Kunze and Martine Grael, gold medalists in sailing 49er FXv at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games: an unprecedented couple carrying the flag.  

This is the list of the main flag bearers who paraded at the National Stadium: 

ABOUT LIMA 2019  

The Lima 2019 Pan American Games gather 6680 athletes from 41 countries and delegations from the Americas.  

There will be 17 days of competitions and ceremonies between July 26 and August 11, which will take place in 14 districts of Lima and Callao at various venues like VIDENA, Villa Maria Sports Center, Callao Regional Village, Villa El Salvador Sports Center, Punta Rocas, among others.  

The Lima 2019 Pan American Games will include 39 sports and 61 disciplines, in which athletes will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals. A total of 21 competitions are qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 

The Pan American Games’ fever is already taking over Peru. More than 300 fans from the Peruvian Football Team’s official supporting club “La Blanquirroja” gathered at the Pan American Village, located in Villa El Salvador, last Thursday evening to cheer on the Peruvian delegation, which has been at the Village since Sunday.

The fans, carrying flags, flares and bass drums, ceaselessly sang the song released at the Russia 2018 World Cup which now symbolizes the fans’ passion, “Cómo no te voy a querer si eres mi Perú querido, mi país bendito que me vio nacer.” (“How couldn't I love you, if you are my lovely Peru, my blessed country where I was born.”)

Peruvian fans are expected to keep supporting their athletes in all sports competitions to take place at the Pan American and Parapan American Games.

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