Brazilian baseball team beats Venezuela at the Pan American Games in Santiago
The Brazilian baseball team's debut at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, was a highly positive surprise. On Thursday (19), Brazil beat Venezuela 3-1 to take the lead in Group B, which also includes Colombia and Cuba.
BIG WIN, BRAZIL! ⚾🇧🇷
The strike out that confirmed Brazil's great start at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games 🇨🇱 pic.twitter.com/FBEeFBtLMN
- Team Brazil (@timebrasil) October 19th, 2023
Brazil - which has no tradition in the sport - returned to play a match at the Pan after 16 years. The last time was in 2007, when it was the host country of the Pan held in Rio de Janeiro. In Guadalajara (2011), Toronto (2015) and Lima (2019), it missed out.
Venezuela, although it hasn't taken the best of the best, is a world power in the sport. Some of the country's names play in the MLB, the US league, considered the best on the planet. The country has one gold and two bronze medals in baseball at the Pan American Games. However, it arrived in Santiago with a team considered to be on the second tier of what Venezuela has to offer.
In the opening game, Brazil took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, Venezuela reduced the deficit in the fifth but couldn't avoid defeat.
After the win, pitcher Felipe Natel, known as Pelé, spoke about his expectations for the tournament.
"We prepared for the Pan to win a medal. And to do that, we knew we'd have to face powerhouses like Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia. It wasn't surprising at all. The guys didn't even celebrate that much, because our goal is to win a medal. We want to beat everyone and we're going to win this medal for Brazilian baseball," said the player, in a statement to the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB).
Brazil's next match is against Colombia on Sunday (22).
Brazil's schedule for Friday (20)
In addition to the official opening of the Games at Santiago's National Stadium at 8pm (Brasília time), the Pan will see the continuation of the baseball and boxing competitions and the debut of the diving events. The competition has live streaming on Brazil's Olympic Channel.
WATCH THE PAN-AMERICAN GAMES! 📝
You can't miss out on Team Brazil's biggest competition of the year! 💚💛
On this 1st official day of Santiago 2023 we have Brazilian athletes in action, COBCast and the opening ceremony! 😍
Keep up to date with everything LIVE on Time's YouTube... pic.twitter.com/UThuj28lev
- Team Brazil (@timebrasil) October 19th, 2023
In the ring, at 11am, Brazil will be represented by Viviane Pereira, who will make her debut in the middleweight category (up to 75 kg) against Argentina's Lorena Soledad Balbuena.
At the same time, there's the opening of the diving calendar with two Brazilians in action. In the preliminary phase of the 10-meter platform event, Giovanna Pedroso and Ingrid de Oliveira are among the 17 athletes taking part.
