Friday, November 3rd, 2023.- Chile secured its ninth gold medal in Santiago 2023 with the victory of Enrique Villalón in the -60 kg karate category.

The Chilean reached the final after filing a protest in the semifinals, where he had initially lost to Colombian Juan Fernández (8-4). After the judges ruled in his favor, he won and advanced to the fight for gold, which he achieved.

The rest of the day saw both victories and losses for Team Chile. The male's basketball team secured fifth place by defeating the Dominican Republic 83-75. The local squad, fueled by their victory over Mexico by 63-59 on Thursday night, came out strong on Friday to secure their best position in the event.

In one of the most anticipated matches of the day, Argentina defended their Pan American gold in field hockey by defeating Chile in the final. Lucas Martínez opened the scoring for Argentina, and Axel Richter equalized. However, in the final 15 minutes, the reigning champions asserted their dominance with goals from Martínez and Agustín Bugallo.

In rugby 7s, the "Cóndores" advanced to the male's semifinals, where they will face the United States on Saturday. The female's team showed promise but couldn't overcome the strength of Canada and Brazil, so they will compete for secondary positions.

Speed canoeing added another medal as María José Mailliard secured second place in the C1 200-meter competition, held at the Laguna de San Pedro de la Paz in the Biobío region.

Team Chile made their debut with a loss in the male's doubles basque pelota trinquet category. Esteban Romero and Julián Stabón lost to Uruguay 2-1.

In female’s Greco-Roman wrestling, Chile secured another bronze medal as Antonia Valdés defeated Peruvian Thalia Mallqui in the 53kg category, winning 4-2.

The female’s soccer team couldn't secure gold in the final and lost by a single goal to Mexico. It was an atypical match for the Chilean team, as they played without a goalkeeper who specialized in the position, as both called-up goalkeepers, Christiane Endler and Antonia Canales, had to return to their clubs in Europe after the FIFA international break. Therefore, coach Luis Mena improvised with forward María José Urrutia in goal, who, despite not being a goalkeeper by trade, performed well.

The day concluded with the Chilean male's handball team losing to Argentina 33-26 in the semi-finals at the Polideportivo de Viña del Mar. They will face the United States for the bronze medal on Saturday.

The results on Friday allowed Chile to achieve its best medal count in the Pan American Games, reaching 51 medals, one more than in Lima 2019.

Written by Ernesto Bustos B.; translated by Andrés Castro / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Alejandro Pizarro / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport