(by Steve Hopkins)
Mark Hazinski (Men’s Coach), Rachel Sung, Sid Naresh, Lily Zhang, Jishan Liang, Amy Wang, Nandan Naresh & Gao Jun (Women’s Coach)
On Saturday the US Women won their Semifinal Match over Brazil 3-0. The Women then followed up that win with a 3-1 Gold Medal victory over Puerto Rico. For TeamUSA’s Men, it was a narrow 2-3 loss to Canada on Saturday that left them with the Bronze.
In the Men’s Singles Semifinal, Canada began with a 3-0 win (Eugene Wang and Simeon Martin over Jishan Lang and Sid Naresh). Canada’s Edward Ly then secured a 3-1 win over Nandan Naresh that gave Canada a 2-0 lead. TeamUSA fought back with back-to-back wins with Jishan defeating Simeon Martin 3-1 and Sid Naresh defeating Edward Ly 3-1. But Canada’s top player, Eugene Wang secured their win with a 3-1 score over Nandan Naresh. Canada moved on – and eventually won Silver (after a loss to Brazil). TeamUSA settled for Bronze.
TeamUSA’s Women were dominant in the Team event. In the Semifinals, our gold-winning pair, Rachel Sung and Amy Wang won 3-0 over Brazil’s Bruna Costa and Giulia Takahashi. Lily Zhang then won 3-0 over Brazil’s top player Bruna Takahashi, and Amy Wang won 3-1 over Giulia Takahashi. A quick 3-0 win over a very strong Brazilian squad.
TeamUSA’s Final against Puerto Rico was more of the same – a dominant performance. In this team match it was TeamUSA that won Doubles. Adriana Diaz then narrowly defeated Lily Zhang 3-2 to put Puerto Rico on the board. However, singles wins by Rachel Sung (over Briana Burgos) and Amy Wang (over Adriana Diaz) gave TeamUSA the 3-1 win – and the Gold Medal.
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