They are performed for the first time in La Pampa. The Sports Minister, Alejandra Piedecasas, accompanied the athletes from Neuquén.
Racquet sports got off to a great start for Neuquén in the first edition of the Patagonian Integration Games (Jipa) that began in different venues in Santa Rosa, La Pampa.
The opening ceremony was held at the Estudiantes club and was attended by nearly 700 athletes from Patagonia.
In the parade of delegations, the disabled badminton player Ruth Vicente carried the flag of Neuquén. Precisely this discipline, plus archery and table tennis, are the disciplines that compete alongside conventional athletes who also compete in tennis, taekwondo and wrestling, Olympic lifting and artistic gymnastics.
The Minister of Sports, Alejandra Piedecasas, the Undersecretary, Diego Landeiro, together with the Provincial Director, Carlos Torres, participated in the opening ceremony, sharing the opening party with more than a hundred young people between 15 and 17 years old who take part in this competition.
On the first day they had a great debut in tennis, Bruno Largacha in Amina Fradkin duo who defeated the mixed team from Tierra del Fuego at the Center for Trade Employees club.
Also the Badminton that had activity in the Manuel Belgrano school placed all its representatives in the instances of fighting for medals with the mixed victories of Valentín García and Martina Lezcano in the mixed doubles category and in the individual branch with Zaida Garcés and Agustín Luengo , who were also winners of their two crosses.
Table tennis was another of the disciplines that had a good debut at Colegio Provincia de La Pampa, with the pair Lucas Lagos and Diego Moreno who advanced to the final where they lost to Río Negro.
In archery, Esteban Silva and Oriana González Vargas stood out in Sub.17 and Lian Valdebenito and Lucrecia Adad, in Sub 15.
