The opening ceremony of the fourth edition of the South American Beach Games gets underway today in Rosario, Argentina, for the multi-sport event which finishes on Saturday 23 March.

 

Both men’s and women’s beach handball will feature in the Games across four match days in the ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ (Estadio Rojo, Estadio Verde) arenas on the north shore at La Florida, starting on Saturday 16 March and ending on Tuesday 19 March.

 

Nine teams will do battle in the men’s competition, with seven in the women’s tournament. Both competitions are split into two preliminary groups each with the top two from each going straight into the semi-finals.

 

Men’s Competition

Group A: Venezuela (VEN), Ecuador (ECU), Brazil (BRA), Colombia (COL), Peru (PER)

Group B: Uruguay (URU), Argentina (ARG), Chile (CHI), Paraguay (PAR)

 

Women’s Competition

Group A: Venezuela (VEN), Brazil (BRA), Colombia (COL)

Group B: Argentina (ARG), Paraguay (PAR), Chile (CHI), Peru (PER)

 

The 2019 edition is the fourth time the Games have been held, following the 2009 (Uruguay), 2011 (Ecuador) and 2014 (Venezuela) editions. Brazil’s men and women won gold in 2009 and 2011, with Venezuela winning both titles at the last event, in 2014.

 

For host nation Argentina, Rosario 2019 comes on the back of their national beach games, held last week, and the Youth Olympic Games, held in Buenos Aires in October 2018, where their women’s team won gold and men’s team bronze.

 

For Rosario 2019, Argentina have named five members of that women’s Olympic gold medal-winning team in their squad (Carolina Ponce, Zoe Turnes, Fiorella Corimberto, Caterina Benedetti and Gisella Bonomi) with the men naming two (Elian Goux and Nahuel Baptista) from their bronze medal team.

 

Rosario 2019 also includes beach football, beach rugby, beach tennis, beach volleyball, canoeing, open water swimming, coastal rowing, sailing, skateboarding, stand-up paddle surfing, triathlon and water-skiing.

 

Follow beach handball through its own page on the official Rosario 2019 website HERE.

 

Follow the Games via the official website at suramericanos.gob.ar, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

 

Match Schedule

(All times local)

 

Saturday 16 March

 

Men’s Competition

17:40    PER vs COL

18:30    VEN vs ECU

 

Sunday 17 March

 

Men’s Competition

09:50    ARG vs CHI

09:50    PAR vs URU

11:30    PER vs VEN

11:30    BRA vs COL

13:50    PAR vs ARG

13:50    URU vs CHI

15:30    COL vs VEN

15:30    ECU vs BRA

 

Women’s Competition

09:00    BRA vs COL

10:40    CHI vs ARG

10:40    PER vs PAR

13:00    VEN vs COL

14:40    PER vs ARG

14:40    PAR vs CHI

 

Monday 18 March

 

Men’s Competition

09:50    BRA vs PER

09:50    ECU vs COL

12:20    ARG vs URU

12:20    CHI vs PAR

13:50    VEN vs BRA

13:50    PER vs ECU

 

Women’s Competition

10:40    ARG vs PAR

10:40    CHI vs PER

11:30    VEN vs BRA

 

Tuesday 19 March

All games will be played at Estadio Roja

 

Men’s Competition

10:40    Semi-Final 1

11:30    Semi-Final 2

12:20    7/8 Placement Match

14:00    5/6 Placement Match

15:40    Bronze Medal Match

17:20    Gold Medal Match

18:30    Medal Presentation Ceremony

 

Women’s Competition

09:00    Semi-Final 1

09:50    Semi-Final 2

13:10    5/6 Placement Match

14:50    Bronze Medal Match

16:30    Gold Medal Match

18:00    Medal Presentation Ceremony