(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)
The ITTF-Americas Championships are underway in Lima, Peru, and if the first three days are any indication, we are in for one heck of a week. TeamUSA had solid results in the team events — and singles draws are about to get underway as we move towards those finals this weekend.
TeamUSA Women are Pan Am champions again. They entered as the top seed, defeated Guatemala, dropped a game to Canada in the Semifinals, and then swept Puerto Rico 3-0 in the final. The final matches were Lily Zhang 3-0 over Puerto Rico’s Edmarie Leon, Sally Moyland 3-2 over Puerto Rico’s Brianna Burgos, and Amy Wang 3-1 over Puerto Rico’s Alondra Rodriguez.
In the Men’s team event, Brazil was the top seed and USA was second seed. In the Quarterfinals, USA topped Mexico 3-1 with Kanak Jha logging two of the three wins, and Jishan Liang adding the third point. TeamUSA fell in the Semis to Argentina 3-2. Kanak Jha and Jishan Liang each won one match, but a pair of losses by Nandan Naresh and an upset loss by Jha (to Horacio Cifuentes) gave Argentina 3 points. The Argentinians then advanced to the Final where they also upset top seeded Brazil to claim the Men’s Team title.
Singles is set to begin on Wednesday, and top seeds Hugo Calderano and Kanak Jha should see their first matches on Thursday. Andrew Cao, Nandan Naresh, and Jishan Liang are all set to see action for TeamUSA in Men’s Singles as well. In Women’s Singles, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz is the top seed and Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi are the top seeds. TeamUSA will be represented by Jessica Reyes Lai, Lily Zhang, Amy Wang, and Sally Moyland.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long – we’ll have more updates soon.
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