(by Steve Hopkins/Photo by ITTF)
The 2019 Pan American Games is through the fourth day in Lima, Peru. The tournament began on August 4 and will continue through August 10. The tournament has now completed the Singles and Doubles events with the Team events remaining.
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 World 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.
The Women’s Singles Semifinals were Puerto Rico versus USA (Melanie Diaz v. Jennifer Wu) and Puerto Rico versus Brazil (Adriana Diaz v. Takahashi). The younger Diaz, Melanie, fell to Jennifer Wu 4-2. Adriana Diaz, the highest remaining seed, defeated Takahashi 4-0. The final went to Adriana Diaz 4-1 (8, 3, 9, -8, 6), with Diaz winning the first three games and then closing out the match in the fifth.
The Men’s Singles Semifinals were USA v. Dominican Republic (Kanak Jha v. Jiaji Wu) and Brazil versus Canada (Hugo Calderano v. Eugene Wang). Jha fell to the tournament’s biggest surprise, Jiaji Wu, 4-2. Wu eliminated the tournament’s second seed, Gustavo Tsuboi, 4-2 in the previous round so he managed to beat two players in the World Top 35 in this event. Hugo Calderano was by far the highest seed in the tournament, and he won his semifinal – but not before being pushed to a 2-2 tie in games and with a 9-9 score in the fifth game against Canada’s Eugene Wang. Calderano needed all seven games to beat Jiaji Wu. In fact, Calderano was down 1-2 and down 2-3 before winning the final two games. Calderano over Wu 4-3 (8, -6, -8, 7, -8, 8, 2).
Team events begin on Thursday with the medal rounds on Saturday.
Notable Earlier 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.