(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTF)
The 2023 ITTF Pan American Youth Championships (U15 and U19) concluded on Sunday in Charleston, West Virginia. Puerto Rico’s Angel Naranjo won Gold in the U19 Boys Singles – defeating USA’s Darryl Tsao in the Semifinal 4-0 and then winning over USA’s Nandan Naresh 4-2 in the Final. Nandan reached the Final by defeating brother Sid Naresh 4-1 in their Semifinal.
The U19 Girls title went to USA’s Sally Moyland won top honors with a 4-1 win over Brazil’s Giulia Takahashi. The Semifinalists were Laura Watanabe (Brazil) and Kristal Melendez (Puerto Rico).
Boys U15 ended with an all-USA Final. Xianyao He won the event with a 3-2 win over Stanley Hsu. The same was true in U15 Girls with Amber Liu and Yishiuan both reaching the Final – with Amber winning Gold, and Yishiuan taking Silver.
In U19 Boys Doubles, Peru’s team of Fernandez and Rubinos took gold with Puerto Rico’s Naranjo and Valentin claiming Silver. Puerto Rico’s second team of Birriel and Lopez took Bronaze.
The U19 Girls Doubles title went to Brazil’s team of Takahashi and Watanabe. Silver went to USA’s Emily Tan and Tiffany Ke. Bronze medals went to USA’s Sally Moyland and Rachel Wang and to Canada’s Ching Name Fu and Demi Cai.
U19 Mixed Doubles was won by Oscar Birriel and Alondra Rodriguez of Puerto Rico. Tsao and Moyland took Silver and Bronze went to Mexico’s Castro/Cossio team and to Puerto Rico’s Naranjo/Burgos team.
USA’s team of Krish Gandhi and Stanley Hsu won the U15 Boys Doubles. Brazil took Silver (Romanski/Fujii team). Brazil’s team of Yamane and Iwamoto and Puerto Rico’s Moreno and Rios each took Bronze.
In U15 Girls Doubles, USA’s Yishiuan Lin and Amber Lin won a tight FInal over Brazil’s Sarda and Pincerato to claim Gold. The Bronze medals went to Brazil’s Kano/Hatekeyama team and to USA’s Irene Yeoh and Tashiya Piyadasa.
USA also took three of the four medals in U15 Mixed with Krish Gandhi and Amber Liu winning the Gold, and Charles Shen and Tashiya Piyadasa and Stanley Hsu and Yishiuan Lin each claiming Bronze.
The team events ended earlier in the week whereTeam USA made all four team event finals, claiming 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal.
In the U19 Boys Teams, it was USA over Puerto Rico 3-0 in the Semifinals, and USA over Brazil 3-2 in the Final. In the Final, Iizuka Kenzo topped Daniel Tran 3-2 to give Brazil an early lead. Nandan Naresh then beat Kim Iwasaki 3-0 and Darryl Tsao pulled out a tight win over Felipe Arado Doti 3-2 to put TeamUSA ahead 2-1 in the match. Iizuka Keno won a tough match over Nandan Naresh 3-2 to even the score, but Daniel Tran sealed the win for TeamUSA with a 3-1 win over Kim Iwasaki in the last match. USA wins Gold, Brazil wins Silver, and Puerto Rico and Peru finish with Bronze.
In the U19 Girls Teams, it was TeamUSA defeating top seeded Brazil 3-1 in the Semifinals and the topping Puerto Rico 3-0 in the Final. In the Final it was Emily Tan over Brianna Burgos, Sally Moyland over Kristal Melendez, and Tiffany Ke over Alondra Rodriguez (all 3-0). USA wins Gold, Puerto Rico takes the Silver, and Canada and Brazil finish with Bronze.
In the U15 Boys Teams, TeamUSA defeated top seeded Puerto Rico 3-2 in a comeback upset win after falling behind 0-2. TeamUSA then faced off against second seeded Brazil in the Final and again fell behind 0-2. Davi Fuji and Lucas Romanski defeated USA’s Stanley Hsu and Krish Gandhi in the first two matches to give Brazil the 2-0 lead. Then Xianyao He and Stanley Hsu fought back with wins (over Iwamoto and Romanski) to tie the score. But Davi Fujii was too tough for Krish Gandhi in the final match, giving Brazil the 3-2 win. Brazil wins Gold, USA take Silver, Puerto Rico and Peru each win Bronze.
In the U15 Girls Teams, USA topped Ecuador in the Semifinal 3-0 and then won a tight match 3-2 over Canada. Canada won the first match 3-2 (Jessie Xu over Amy Zhang). USA’s Amber Liu then won 3-0 over Ivy Pan to even the score. Canada jumped ahead again when Emily Liu won a tight 3-2 match over Yishiuan Lin. But Amber Liu defeated Jessie Xu and Amy Wang defeated Ivy Pan – a pair of 3-0 USA wins to claim the Gold. USA wins Gold, Canada wins Silver, Ecuador and Peru each win Bronze.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long. The doubles are starting today. Singles finals will be played on Sunday.
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