(by Steve Hopkins)
Rosario, Argentina is host this week to the 2022 ITTF Pan American Youth Championships (U19). The tournament includes Boys and Girls Singles, Boys and Girls Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Boys and Girls Teams. The singles and doubles events will conclude on Sunday, but the teams events concluded on Thursday.
TeamUSA’s Girls won their group, in part with a narrow 3-2 win over Puerto Rico. In that important group stage victory, Sarah Jalli won the opening match over Briana Burgos 3-1. Sally Moyland then gave TeamUSA a big lead with a 3-0 win over Alondra Rodriguez. Puerto Rico fought back with two wins – Edmarie Leon Burgos over Tiffany Ke and Alondra Rodriguez over Sarah Jalli. Sally Moyland then sealed the victory with a win over Brianna Burgos 3-0. Both USA and Puerto Rico went on to beat the rest of the group, so both advanced to the knock-out stage. In the Main Draw, USA defeated Mexico 3-0 and Brazil defeated Puerto Rico 3-1. TeamUSA then topped Brazil 3-1 – with Moyland winning twice (the first match over Laura Watanabe and what turned out to be the last match over Giulia Takahashi), Sarah Jalli losing a close match to Giulia Takahashi 3-2, and Angie Tan topping Beatriz Kaori Correia Kanashiro.
Puerto Rico won the Boys Team event with a 3-2 win over Brazil. Brazil had topped Ecuador in one Semifinal, and Puerto Rico had defeated TeamUSA in the other. In the USA-Puerto Rico match, Nandan Naresh topped Jabdiel Torres 3-0 for USA’s only win. Angel Naranjo defeated Darryl Tsao 3-0, Oscar Birriel defeated Sid Naresh 3-0, and Angel Naranjo secured victory for Puerto Rico with a 3-0 win over Nandan Naresh. In the Final between Brazil and Puerto Rico, Angel Naranjo won twice, and Oscar Birriel one the final set to give Puerto Rico the 3-2 win.
Singles and Doubles finals will be played on Sunday.
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