(By Steve Hopkins)
Much like the Teams event, Cuba and Puerto Rico dominated Men’s Singles. In the Quarterfinals, both Puerto Rico and Cuba had three entrants advance to the final Eight (for Puerto Rico that was Daniel Gonzalez, Brian Afanador, and Angel Naranjo and for Cuba it was Andy Pereira, Livan Martinez, and Jorge Campos. Unlike the Teams competition where Puerto Rico came out on top, in Men’s Singles, it was Cuba that finished first. In the Semifinals, Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador topped the Dominican Republic’s Jiaji Wu 4-1, and Cuba’s Andy Pereira beat teammate Livan Martinez 4-0. The Final went to Cuba’s Pereira 4-1. There were three games decided by just 2 points and Pereira won two of those games – and that was enough to turn the tide towards Pereira.
One Women’s Singles Semifinal was Puerto Rican Teammates with Adriana Diaz defeating Brianna Burgos 4-0. The other Women’s Single Semifinal was two Mexican Teammates with Yadira Silva topping Clio Barcenas 4-1. Adriana Diaz was the top seed in the event, and the Final was four relatively easy games for Diaz taking the title 4-0.
In Men’s Doubles, it was Andy Pereira and Jorge Camps of Cuba over Brian Afanador and Daniel Gonzales of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican team topped Mexico’s Marcos Madrid and Juan Gomez 3-2. Cuba’s Semifinal opponent was Costa Rica’s Daniel Araya and Alejandro Montoyo.
In Women’s Doubles the Gold went to the Centro Caribe Sports Team (made up of two Guatemalans) of Lucia Codero and Mabelyn Enriquez who defeated Venezuela’s Obando and Gonzalez 3-2. The Women’s Team event was Cuba over Puerto Rico 3-1.
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