2019 Pan America Cup Preview
(by Steve Hopkins)

The 2019 Pan America Cup is scheduled to start on February 1st in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.   The January 2019 World Rankings were released last week and as participation is allowed for only the top 16 by ranking, the Pan Am Cup entries have just been finalized.  The top two finishers in men’s and women’s singles will receive an automatic invitation to the World Cup, so the benefits of a strong tournament extend beyond this one event.

The top two seeds on the men’s side are both from Brazil, Hugo Calderano and Gustavo Tsuboi.  USA’s Kanak Jha is seeded third.  Their World Rankings are No. 6, No. 42, and No. 51 respectively.  Mexico’s Marcos Madrid is seeded fifth, Brian Afanador and Daniel Gonzalez of Puerto Rico are seeded at 7 and 10, Canadian players Marko Medjugorac and Jeremy Hazin are 14 and 16, and Nikhil Kumar will be the USA’s second representative with a seeding of 15.

The top three seeds on the women’s side are Canada’s Mo Zhang (World No. 20), Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz (World No. 33), and USA’s Jennifer Wu (World No. 46).  USA’s Lily Zhang is the fifth seed, Melanie Diaz of Puerto Rico is tenth, Yadira Silva will represent Mexico as the twelfth seed, and Canada’s Alicia Cote is seeded at sixteen.

The event prospectus and full list of players are available on the ITTF website here.

Check in at ButterflyOnline for updates throughout the event.