(by Steve Hopkins/Photo by ITTF)
The 2019 Pan American Games is through the third day in Lima, Peru. The tournament began on August 4 and will continue through August 10. The tournament features Doubles events, Singles events, and Team events.
The top seed in Men’s Singles is Hugo Calderano (World No. 6). His teammate, Gustavo Tsuboi, is the second seed (World No. 32), and USA’s Kanak Jha (World No. 33) is the third seed. The top Men’s Team seed is Brazil with Tsuoboi, Jouti, and Calderano. Chile is the second seed with Gomez, Lamadrid, and Moya. Team USA is seeded third with Kanak Jha, Nikhil Kumar, and Nicholas Tio. The Puerto Rican team of Brian Afanador, Daniel Gonzalez, and Angel Naranjo is seeded sixth. The Canadian team is seeded tenth (Eugene Wang, Jeremy Hazin, and Marko Medjugorac).
In Women’s Singles, Canada’s Mo Zhang is the top seed at World No. 27, Adriana Diaz (No. 30) of Puerto Rico is second, and Americans Jennifer Wu and Lily Zhang are third and fourth seed (at World No 35 and WSorld No. 66). Team USA is the tournament’s top seed with Amy Wang joining Wu and Zhang. Puerto Rico is the second seed with Adriana Diaz, Melanie Diaz, and Daniely Rios. Team Canada if fifth with Mo Zhang, Alicia Cote, and Ivy Liao.
With singles underway and through to the Semifinals, most of the top seeds are performing as expected. In Women’s Singles, Melanie Diaz of Puerto Rico is through with a 4-0 win over Eva Brito of the Dominican Republic, Jennifer Wu pulled out a 4-3 win over Brazil’s Yamada, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz dominated her Argentine opponent 4-0 to advance, and Lily Zhang defeated Cuba’s Lovet 4-0. The one major upset through the quarters was the loss of Mo Zhang as the tournament’s top seed fell to Mexico’s Yadira Silva 4-1.
In Men’s Singles, Hugo Calderano, Markos Madrid, Eugene Wang, Marco Aguirre, Kanak Jha, Alberto Mino, Brian Afanador, and Jiaji Wu all advanced. Puerto Rico’s Afanador needed 7 games to pull out his win over Chile’s Gustavo Gomez. Brazil’s Tsuboi was the only upset before the semifinals, losing to Jiaji Wu of the Dominican Republic. USA’s Nikhil Kumar won the first game and the fifth game in a tough loss to Mexico’s Marcos Madrid.
In the Women’s Singles Quarterfinal rounds it was Melanie Diaz over Yadira Silva 4-3, Jennifer Wu over Paulina Vega 4-0, Bruna Takahashi outlasting USA’s Lily Zhang 4-3, and Adriana Diaz over Paula Medina 4-0. The semifinals tomorrow will be Puerto Rico versus USA (Melanie Diaz v. Jennifer Wu) and Puerto Rico versus Brazil (Adriana Diaz v. Takahashi).
In the Men’s Singles Quarterfinals it was Hugo Calderano over Marcos Madrid 4-0, Eugene Wang over Marcos Aguirre 4-2, Jiaji Wu over Brian Afanador 4-1, and Kanak Jha over Alberto Mino 4-1. The semifinals tomorrow will be USA v. Dominican Republic (Kanak Jha v. Jiaji Wu) and Brazil versus Canada (Hugo Calderano v. Eugene Wang).
Notable Results:
The Mixed Doubles title went to Canada’s Eugene Wang and Mo Zhang who defeated Brazil (Tsuoboi/Takahashi) 4-1. Puerto Rico (Afanador/Diaz) and Argentina (Alto/Cifuentes) received the Bronze.
The Men’s Doubles title went to Brazil (Calderano/Tsuboi) over Argentina (Alto/Cifuentes) 4-2. The semifinalists were Puerto Rico (Afanador/Gonzalez) and the Dominican Republic (Santos/Gonzales).
The Women’s Doubles title went to Puerto Rico’s Diaz and Diaz team. The defeated Team USA’s Jennifer Wu and Lily Zhang 4-3. The semifinalists were Brazil (Takahashi/Yamada) and Canada Cote/Zhang).
Check in at ButterflyOnline.com for updates throughout the event.
