Having already gone through the first week of competitions in the Pan American Games, Uruguay has so far five medals, all of them coming from rowing. The two golds, two silvers and one bronze earn the celestial delegation 13th place in the medal table so far, among 41 countries that compete and 27 that have already obtained at least one podium.
Osvaldo Borchi added a new chapter of glory at the head of the Uruguayan rowing team, and in this cycle he leads a group that managed to win the medal table at the South American Games in Asunción and sealed the best participation of a single discipline in the history of the Pan American Games for Uruguay. It is the consolidation, in terms of results, of the process led by Fernando Ucha, its president, from the Uruguayan Rowing Federation, but which is nourished by the arms of rowers trained in various clubs in the national territory.
On Wednesday, in a conversation in which Marcos Sarraute acted as an interviewer with the last two gold medalists, Martín Zócalo and Eric Seawright, the latter was very clear when answering the question: “And now what’s next?”
“Now we have to fight a little,” he said, “we’re both going to go in singles and we’re going to see who comes out on top.” He was referring to the selections for the continental pre-Olympic tournament that will be held next year in Rio de Janeiro and in which the lightweight singles and double pair boats can participate, but only one can access the Olympic classification. Both Zócalo and Seawright aspire to crew the single: “We are both very soon to know which Uruguayan is going to represent us. However it turns out, we will all be happy that the best Uruguayan is there,” Eric assured.
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Otherwise, they will have to go to the world pre-Olympic tournament, which offers two more places in all the men’s and women’s boats, and there they could get together again in search of the Olympic dream: “Maybe we will both go in double pair,” Seawright slipped. .
That is what this group of Uruguayan athletes is all about, united by the same mesh and often confronted by the competition, who extracts from each one the performance they can offer at given moments, and who asks each one for more effort when they have to compete. in collective boats.
Chau Chile
On Friday two hopes were extinguished; first when Franco González finished 11th in the Fosa (trap) qualifying round after shooting 125 targets in two days, and knocking down 112 of them. A perfect last round stood out with 25 out of 25. Qualification for the final was three successes away from being achieved, since the Venezuelan who was 6th finished with 115 kills.
The other hope that will not materialize is that of Julián Schweizer, who lost in the hour against the Chilean Rafael Cortéz in the last round of the longboard repechage. The local competitor finished his last wave with 20 seconds remaining in the 20-minute test, and with a cumulative score of 12.83 between his two best scores (6.60 and 6.23), he defeated the Uruguayan who stayed in 11.90, after having had the best wave of the series (6.90) and a second of 5.00.
Cortéz secured the bronze medal, and will surf on Monday against the Brazilian Carlos Bahía, for a place in the final against Benoit Clemente, the great Peruvian favorite. The loser of the duel between Brazil and Chile will be the bronze medalist.
Saturday and Sunday
The Uruguayan hockey team, the Cimarronas, will play their second game, and the only one in which they start as clear favorites within the group, when they face Trinidad and Tobago at 9:30 on Saturday. Victory is as necessary for Uruguay as it is to achieve it by the greatest possible number of goals, to maintain a good balance in the face of the group definition with the United States. The North American team will play later, starting at 11:30, against the Lionesses. It will be the duel between the two who won on the first date.
There will be only one person who participates in judo, within the delegation, and he will do so in the -81 kg category. This is Mikael Aprahamian, Olympian in Tokyo 2021, who has powerful rivals at the world ranking level: the best of them, the Brazilian Guilherme Schmidt, who is 3rd in the world. His category will have action on Sunday.
In the women’s cycling road test, Agustina Reyes will compete on Sunday from 9:00 a.m., and from 1:00 p.m. Eric Fagúndez, Roderyck Asconeguy and Leonel Rodríguez will compete. These four Uruguayans may not start as favorites, but they face the race with the hope of being able to appear on the Pan American podium, for the sport that has won the most medals in the history of Uruguay (18).
At the same time as the men’s event, from 1:00 p.m., the soccer team will close its participation in the group stage, seeking to retain at least second place when it faces Mexico, a team that only had a draw and shares the last place with Dominican Republic. With a victory, Uruguay will confirm its qualification for the semifinals.
Both Saturday and Sunday the full equestrian event will continue, matches will be played for positions from 5th to 8th in handball, and sailing will begin – with activity until Saturday the 4th and three Olympic places in dispute for Uruguay.
2023-10-28 03:07:49
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