Two players from Lanzarote Puerto del Carmen have managed to get on the podium with their national teams during the past weekend at the XIII South American Games Santa Fe 2026, a tournament contested by six teams at the Estadio Invencible in the province of Santa Fe (Argentina).
The tournament, in which the hosts were champions and undefeated, saw the Paraguayan team of tiñosa player Dely Leiva take the silver medal, with the bronze going to Puerto del Carmen goalkeeper Made Cortez. The six-team round-robin league, all against all, gave the Argentinian and Paraguayan teams direct qualification for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games and Chile qualified for the repechage to compete in Peru next year, with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games on the horizon.
Delyne Leiva was one of Paraguay's key players in Santa Fe. The tiñosa center, captain of her national team, had a very significant tournament. In the debut against Chile, Marizza Faría's team won 21-19 and Leiva scored 4 goals. Then came the victory over Peru, 28-10, and the thrashing of Colombia, 40-15. In the defeat against Uruguay by 28-19, Dely was Paraguay's top scorer with five goals, while in the grand final against Argentina she scored five goals again, in a match that ended 25-25 and gave Paraguay the silver medal and qualification for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games.
For her part, Made Cortez, goalkeeper for Chile and Puerto del Carmen, ended up winning the bronze after defeating Uruguay in the direct match for third place. The Chilean team lost 21-19 against Paraguay in their debut and 32-25 against Argentina, and then completed their journey to the third step of the podium.
The president of CB Puerto del Carmen, Félix Montelongo, wants to "publicly congratulate the two tiñosa players, medalists in Argentina. Delyne will arrive with the silver medal and the ticket to Lima 2027, while Made returns with the bronze. We are proud to have two tiñosa players on the Santa Fe podium. We are already looking forward to their arrival to congratulate them in person on the island and for them to join Jesús Casanova's squad," concludes the aurinegro president.
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