The 2019 Pan American Games will take place from 26 July – 11 August and see a total of 17 days of competition and ceremonies held in 14 districts of Lima and Callao, at venues including VIDENA, Villa Maria del Triunfo Sports Complex, Callao Regional Sports Village, Villa El Salvador Sports Centre and Punta Rocas, amongst others.

 

Handball takes place from 24 July - 3 August and features with the men’s and women’s handball will consisting of eight nations in each with the winners of both qualifying directly through to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

 

All games will be held in Polideportivo 1 of VIDENA and with one men’s and one women’s team still to qualify – through the Last Chance Tournaments in March and April – the official draw for the preliminary groups in Lima has been made.

 

The handball draw was the first for any sport or discipline at the games and saw Ramon Gallego, Chairman of the IHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission (PRC), take part in the ceremony alongside Lima 2019 President Carlos Neuhaus, César Alexander Gonzales Acevedo, President of the Peruvian Handball Sports Federation and players from both the Peru men’s and women’s teams.

 

Pan American Games: Lima 2019 – Preliminary Groups with how teams qualified

 

Women’s Tournament
Starts 24 July

 

Group A

Cuba (CUB) – Third Place: Central American and Caribbean Games

Puerto Rico (PUR) – Runners-Up: 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games

Brazil (BRA) – Winners: 2018 South American Games

Canada (CAN)/Chile (CHI)/Guatemala (GUA) or Mexico (MEX) – Winners: Last Chance Tournament

 

Group B

United States of America (USA) – Winners: North Zone Play-Off

Dominican Republic (DOM) – Winners: 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games

Argentina (ARG) – Runners-Up: 2018 South American Games

Peru (PER) – Hosts

 

Men’s Tournament

Starts 31 July

 

Group A

United States of America (USA) – Winners: North Zone Play-Off

Cuba (CUB) – Winners: 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games

Argentina (ARG) – Runners-Up: 2018 South American Games

Chile (CHI)/Colombia (COL) or Dominican Republic (DOM) – Winners: Last Chance Tournament

 

Group B

Mexico (MEX) – Third Place: 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games

Puerto Rico (PUR) – Runners-Up: 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games

Brazil (BRA) – Winners: 2018 South American Games

Peru (PER) – Hosts

 

“We know the game of all our rivals because we have had previous confrontations,” said Mario Ramos, coach of the Peruvian women's team to the event website. “Together with the United States and the Dominican Republic we will be contesting the pass to the semi-finals and will play all of them with the same intensity.”

 

"We can match the level of Puerto Rico and Mexico to qualify for the next stage,” added Peru’s men’s technical director Iván Bendezú, to the same website. “We are at home and we must take advantage of it.”

 

For more information about handball at Lima 2019 visit www.lima2019.pe (in Spanish and English).

 

Photo: Lima 2019