Argentina women’s team seal gold by going unbeaten at South American Games

Argentina women’s senior national team were crowned champions on their home court at the 2026 South American Games, by securing four wins and one draw in five matches, remaining unbeaten in the competition.

Argentina and Paraguay – the top two sides in the competition – also secured tickets for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, a qualification event for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Chile, the third-placed side, will move into a repechage for the remaining qualification opportunity.

The women’s handball competition was played in Santa Fe, Argentina, with six teams lining up at the start. A single group, played in a round robin format, was on the schedule, with every team playing against each other, with five matches scheduled in five days.

Argentina took early control of the competition, with a clear 34:11 win over Colombia, following up with a 32:25 win against Chile, as their schedule progressively got harder.

However, in this match, Argentina went down at the break, 12:14, only to produce a flawless second half, to secure the win, scoring 20 goals in the last 30 minutes, as Malena Cavo and Miranda Kruk, their most experienced players, each had six goals.

Then, Argentina faced Uruguay, crowned champions at the IHF Women’s Nations Trophy South America just one week ago, also being pushed until the end, while taking a 26:21 win.

With a 39:11 win against Peru in the fourth match, Argentina went into the last day as group leaders, but still needed to secure at least a draw against Paraguay in the last match to clinch the title.

And the closing match of the competition was anything but easy, with Paraguay pushing the hosts until the end.

Paraguay started with a 4:2 lead, but Argentina bounced back and wrestled the lead back, 6:5, with the lead changing hands three times until the champions managed to secure their maiden two-goal lead, 11:9, after 27 minutes.

Paraguay’s Fernanda Insfran shone on the court, with 11 goals from 13 shots, for a fantastic 85% shooting efficiency and provided plenty of issues for Argentina, as Paraguay took back the lead early in the second half, 14:13.

Argentina came back through a good performance from Cavo (seven goals) and Bono (six goals) and were leading by two goals, 25:23, with 114 seconds to go. Paraguay tied the score with eight seconds left, but it was too late for them to have another attack, therefore the match ended in a deadlock, 25:25, with Argentina securing the first place, with nine points.

Paraguay finished second, with seven points, after wins against Chile (21:19), Colombia (40:15) and Peru (28:10) and a big loss against Uruguay (19:28). 

The podium was completed by Chile, which went on a three-match winning streak after their first two losses, beating Peru (35:12), Colombia (37:11) and Uruguay (25:19).

Uruguay, Colombia and Peru finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Paraguay’s Jessica Fleitas was the top scorer of the competition, with 26 goals, followed by her teammate, Fernanda Insfran, and Uruguay’s Paula Eastman, both with 25 goals.

It was Argentina’s third gold medal in the women’s competition at the South American Games, having secured the title both in 2006 and 2010.

Paraguay ended second for the third time, after their silver medals in 2006 and 2022, while Chile clinched their fourth medal in history, completing the bronze poker after their previous ones in 2006, 2014 and 2018.

Credit photo: HandballSCA / Federico Pancaldi