After grim confirmation, schedule set for next Pan American Games | OneFootball

In a striking announcement, the schedule for the twentieth Pan American Games in history was revealed in recent hours. The event will take place next year, from July 23 to August 8, in Lima, Peru.

It is a schedule that includes 38 sports and 58 disciplines, bringing to life an event that will span 19 days, since competition will already begin 48 hours before the Opening Ceremony.

Around 7,000 athletes from 41 countries across the Americas, including Argentina, will take part in the continent’s biggest sporting event.

The action will begin on Wednesday, July 21, with baseball, and cricket will be added the following day, making its debut at the Games ahead of its Olympic return in 2028.

Unfortunately, there will be no basketball in this edition, neither in its traditional format nor in the 3×3 version.

A conflict between FIBA Americas and Panam Sports, the organizing body of the Games, will mean that for the first time in history, the orange ball will not bounce at the Pan American level.

According to reports, the Pan American Basketball Confederation, headed by the recently deceased Fabián Borro, expressed its intention to compete in the Pan American Games with U21 squads, something that was not well received by the organization led by Chilean Neven Ilic.

“The Pan American Games are the largest multi-sport event in the region and are designed so that each country brings the best athletes available. We explained to them that the Pan American Junior Games exist for development tournaments, but they still did not want to take part,” said the head of Panam Sports.

The conflict is, naturally, a real shame, not only because of the competition itself—one of the biggest attractions and of historic significance—but also because it marked the beginning of a path culminating in the Olympic Games, where basketball, and in recent years 3×3 as well, are among the most highly regarded sports.

Adding to this conflict is the internal situation of the Peruvian Basketball Sports Federation (FDPB), which has been suspended by FIBA for several years. The international body does not recognize its authorities, in a dispute that began in 2018 and worsened in 2021, complicating the local organization of tournaments in the sport.

Likewise, men’s softball is not included either, a discipline that fought until the very last moment for its inclusion and in which Argentina’s team from Bahía Blanca was virtually qualified.

In that regard, although a change seems very unlikely, the organizers made sure to clarify that the current schedule could undergo some kind of modification.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.