FOR José Fernando Araya | October 21, 2023, 10:22 p.m.

The Costa Rican delegation experienced a day full of emotions during the first day of competitions of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.

The first Ticos in action were in the MTB cycling discipline, Jonathan Quesada and Paolo Montoya. This sport produced the first medal in jousting.

Quesada was disqualified in the penultimate lap because he exceeded 80% of the accumulated time, while Montoya finished in 15th position with a time of 1:27:07 with a difference of 9:08 from the first place.

The competition was won by the Canadian Holgrem Gunnar, second place by the Chilean Martín Vidaurre and third place by the Brazilian Gabriel Marques.

In the female branch, the cyclist Isabelle Gomez He left the competition in the third round because the time percentage exceeded 80%. While, the great reference, Adriana Rojasobtained the eighth position with a time of 1:31:30.

​In women’s individual rowing, Monserrat Chaves Agurto placed 16th with a time of 10:37:00 and this Sunday she will be in action again in the repechage.

The good news came from the Olympic Training Center, when the national boxer Valéria Cardenaswon his first fight against Grace Marie Quiles from Puerto Rico.

In taekwondo, the Tica who opened her participation was Laura Sancho, she made a big surprise by winning the first match 2 rounds to 1, against Celi Petterson from Guyana and qualified for the quarterfinals in the -49 category kg, where it was his turn. against the local Karina Guelet and with whom she ended up losing.

​In badmintonCosta Rica was eliminated in the first hour with Gianpiero Cavallotti losing 2-0 against Colombian Henry Alejandro Huebla.

In artistic gymnastics, Andrés Valverde performed an element on high bar that had never been done before, as reported by the press service of the Costa Rican Gymnastics Federation.

National swimmer Alondra Ortiz achieved a historic result by qualifying for the A final of the 200 meter butterfly, becoming the fourth Costa Rican to reach the final of Pan American swimming: Maria del Milagro Paris, Gina Araya, Sylvia Poll and Montserrat Hidalgo. Joining them now is Ortiz, who placed sixth with a time of 2:15:18. The information was confirmed by Swimming 506.

The day of racquetball was not so positive for Costa Rica, in the first hour of play in the women’s doubles, Jimena Gómez and Maricruz Ortiz faced Lambert Frédérique and Michele Morissette from Canada, they lost 3 sets to 1 in sets of 8-11, 7-11, they won the third set 11-7 and lost the final set 5-11.

Subsequently, the mixed doubles were played with the Costa Rican couple composed of Andrés Acuña and Maricruz Ortiz against the Canadians Samuel Murray and Frédérique Lambert.

The Ticos took the match to the fourth set, in the first two they lost in sets of 11-7 and 11-2then they won 12 to 10 and finally fell 5 to 11, the score was 1 to 3.

The day ended with beach volleyball, the pair of Jhostin Varela and Daniel Dyner played They lost 2-0 against Argentina (Matías and José Capogrosso). This Sunday, the Ticos will face Raymond MacNeil and William Russell of Canada.

For their part, Kianny Araya and Ángel Williams lost 2-0 against the local duo of Chris Andrea Vorpahl Villablanca and María Francisca Rivas Zapata.