HANDBALL COMPETITION UNDERWAY AT LIMA 2019

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.