X MENU
Deportes
The team of Argentina and Costa Rica will open the football 5-a-side competitions at the Parapan American Games. The current Paralympic and world champion team, Brazil, will play the second match of the first day of competitions, scheduled for August 24 at the stadium of the Andrés Avelino Cáceres Sports Center in Villa María del Triunfo.
Peru will play against Mexico at 20:00 on the first day of competitions. The national team is under the supervision of Felipe Ramírez and features renowned Para athletes such as Rony Estrada and Bryan Bartolo.
The order was determined this morning at the match draw held in the Lima 2019 SUM auditorium. The ceremony was attended by the Lima 2019 Sports Director, Gustavo San Martín; IBSSA representative, Mariano Travaglino; and the Football 5-a-side Director and representative of the National Paralympic Association of Peru (ANPPERÚ), Jaime Drago.
Football 5-a-side will be played in a round-robin format. After five matches, the two teams with the highest scores will compete again but this time for the gold medal of the Parapan American Games. The teams that place third and fourth will play for the bronze medal. The final is scheduled for August 30.
“This is the first draw for the Parapan American Games, and we’re thrilled because it makes us feel excited for the largest Para sports event Peru has ever held,” stated San Martín.
The Peruvian team followed the draw via live stream. They took a break from their training sessions at the Mariscal Castilla field in Lince to find out the order of the matches.
After facing Mexico on the first day of competitions, Peru will play against Costa Rica, Argentina and Colombia on August 25, 26 and 28, respectively. Finally, it will go up against Brazil on August 29.
“The Peruvian team has improved a lot. It made its debut in December 2017 at the Copa América and won the two first matches of the Copa Libertadores held in Mexico last year. Now the team is training hard to give a good performance at Lima 2019,” stressed Jaime Drago, former football player and ANPPERÚ football 5-a side director.
HIGH COMPETITION LEVEL
Football 5-a-side is one of the 17 sports that will be part of the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games, to be held from August 23 to September 1. This Para sport is played by persons with visual impairment, and athletes wear eyeshades to completely block the sunlight. The goalkeeper is the only fully-sighted athlete in the team.
The IBSSA representative Mariano Travaglino assured Lima 2019 will be a first-level tournament. “Peruvian fans are privileged because they will get to see the world’s number one team, Brazil; world runner-up champion, Argentina; a strong contender like Colombia; the best Central and North America representatives, Mexico and Costa Rica; as well as the Peruvian team, which has grown a lot.”
OTHER DRAWS
A few days before celebrating 100 days until the start of the Parapan American Games (the milestone will be achieved on Wednesday, May 15), other draws will be held on Friday 17 for football 7-a-side and wheelchair basketball.
