Francisca Tala Zacarias (born 20 October 1994) is a Chilean

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player. Tala has represented

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

at both junior and senior levels. She made her junior debut at the 2012 Pan-Am Junior Championship, and her senior debut two years later at a four-nation tournament in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. Tala has played for Chile at two

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nati ...

, in Santiago 2014 and Cochabamba 2018. The team medalled at both evens, winning silver in 2014 and bronze in 2018. Tala was a member of the Chilean team at the 2017 Pan American Cup. They won a silver medal after a historic semi-final victory over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

put the team in the final. The team ultimately lost to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

4–1 in the final.

References

1995 births Living people Chilean female field hockey players South American Games gold medalists for Chile South American Games silver medalists for Chile South American Games bronze medalists for Chile South American Games medalists in field hockey Competitors at the 2014 South American Games Competitors at the 2018 South American Games Competitors at the 2022 South American Games Field hockey players at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games Female field hockey midfielders 21st-century Chilean women 21st-century Chilean people Place of birth missing (living people) Pan American Games bronze medalists for Chile Pan American Games medalists in field hockey {{Chile-fieldhockey-bio-stub