Competition is scheduled to run until March 23 with medals being won across 13 sports.

The programme includes beach handball, beach football, beach rugby, beach tennis and beach volleyball.

It also features canoeing, open water swimming, coastal rowing, sailing, skateboarding, stand-up paddle surfing, triathlon and water skiing.

All 14 nations of the Organización Deportiva Suramericana are expected to compete in the fourth edition of the South American Beach Games.

Hosts Argentina will be joined by Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The inaugural edition of the South American Beach Games was held in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo in 2009.

Manta in Ecuador was the next city to stage the event in 2011 before the Venezuelan state of Vargas did so in 2014.

A fourth edition had been due to take place in Peru's Pimentel District in 2015, but it was cancelled by the Local Government.

Brazil topped the medal table in 2009 and 2011, while hosts Venezuela finished first in 2014.