(by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor)
Top seeds, the United States won the Boys’ Team title at the 2017 Pan American Junior Championships in the Argentine capital city of Buenos Aires on Thursday 22nd June; at the final hurdle they overcame Brazil in a contest that was arguably closer than the three-nil margin may suggest.
Two of the three matches needed the full five games.
Sharon Alguetti gave his team the ideal start by beating Siddharta Almeida (4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5) before both Victor Liu and Jack Wang became embroiled in full distance five games duels.
Victor Liu accounted for Carlos Ishida (7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 3-11, 11-8); Jack Wang brought matters to an end by defeating Eduardo Tomoike (11-3, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6).
One day earlier by reaching the final, both the United States and Brazil had reserved their places in the Boys’ Team event at the forthcoming 2017 World Junior Championships to be held in late November and early December in Riva del Garda, Italy.
They will be joined in the European city by Argentina and Chile.
Impressively, Chile recorded a three-nil win against Peru to reserve their place. Nicolas Burgos beat Adolfo Cucho (11-2, 11-8, 11-4), Andres Martinez accounted for Rodrigo Hidalgo (11-2, 14-12, 11-8), before Jorge Paredes defeated Felipe Duffoo (12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8) to conclude matters.
A relatively comfortable win for Chile; it was much different for Argentina; they needed the full five matches to end Canadian hopes.
Hero of the hour was Martin Bentancor. In the opening match of the engagement, he beat Jeremy Hazin (11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7); in the vital fifth and concluding contest, he defeated Bryan Ho (11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 11-5).
The one remaining win for Argentina was recorded in the second match of the fixture when Francisco Sanchi overcame Bryan Ho (11-4, 12-10, 11-2); for Canada, the wins came in the third and fourth matches. Edward Ly narrowly overcame Santiago Tolosa (5-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10), before Jeremy Hazin beat Francisco Sanchi (8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7).
Team events concluded; the focus now turns to the individual competitions. play concludes on Sunday 25th June.
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