(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTF)
Puerto Rico swept the Men’s and Women’s Team events at this week’s Central American & Caribbean Championships in Santo Domingo.
Puerto Rico’s men had an opening round win over Saint Lucia (De Andre Calderano was Sant Lucia’s sole win, while Angel Naranjo logged a pair of wins for Puerto Rico and Jabdiel Torres provided the third point). Puerto Rico won the first set against Mexico when Angel Naranjo defeating Marcos Madrid 3-1. Mexico won the next two matches with Rogelio Castro and Dario Arce each winning. Angel Naranjo won a tight match over Castro leaving the score tied 2-2. The final match was between 16 year old Steven Moreno of Puerto Rico and the savvy veteran and long-time anchor of the Mexican team, Marcos Madrid. On that day, the momentum favored the younger player with Moreno jumping out early with wins at 6, and 4 before pulling out a final third game 12-10.
The final was another 3-2 thriller, with the Dominican Republic’s Ramon Vila putting his squad on his back. Ramon won the first match 4-1 over Steven Moreno and won the fourth match 3-2 over Angel Naranjo. The Puerto Rican squad was too deep, however. Angel Naranjo won the second match over Issac Vila, Jabdiel Torres won the third match over Abit Tejada, and Steven Moreno won the final game over Isaac Vila to give Puerto Rico a 3-2 win. There are a lot of strong youth on both of these teams, so expect to see both squads improve in the coming years. Ramon Vila is 15, Steven Moreno is 16, and Enrique Rios is 17.
Puerto Rico was more dominant in the Women’s Teams. In fact, they defeated Cuba 3-0 in the Semifinals and dominated Mexico 3-0 in the Final. Including Group matches, they finished 12-0. Puerto Rico has a deep squad with one of the strongest teams in the hemisphere. For this event, they didn’t send their top player (Adriana Diaz), and they still dominated with Brianna Burgos, Edmarie Leon, and Alondra Rodriguez all sweeping the opposition.
The team events have now concluded. Men’s and Women’s Singles, Men’s and Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles will all be played this week. Finals are scheduled for Wednesday.
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