(by Steve Hopkins)

TeamUSA’s Women dominated the Women’s Team event at the ITTF-Americas Championships in Lima.  Unfortunately, the first title of the event was the last for the Americans as parity across this hemisphere saw event titles spread amongst USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and Chile.

The American women spread one lost set over three team matches, beating Guatemala 3-0, beating Canada 3-1, and topping Puerto Rico 3-0 in the Final.  TeamUSA had four players compete with Lily Zhang, Amy Wang, Sally Moyland, and Jessica Reyes Lai all logging dominant performances on their way to  collecting the gold medal.

TeamUSA’s men entered as the second seed, but fell to the third seeded Argentina in the Semifinals.  In the Argentina match, Kanak Jha and Jishan Liang each won one match, but Argentina’s Santiago Lorenzo won a match and Horacio Cifuentes played spoiler to the Americans by winning twice – including a tight 3-1 upset win over Jha.  For Argentina, this was just a jumping off point. Horacio Cifuentes won both of his matches in the Final against Brazil as well, and Santiago Lorenzo won the deciding match as Argentina took the title 3-2.

The Men’s Doubles title went to Nicolas Burgos and Gustavo Gomez of Chile who defeated the Venezuelan team of Medina and Rios 3-0.   The Women’s Doubles title went to Brazil’s Giulia Takahashi and Laura Watanabe 3-0 over the American pair of Sally Moyland and Lily Zhang.   In Mixed Doubles, the top seed (Calderano and Bruna Takahashi withdrew).  This left a path for Canadian’s Edward Ly and Mo Zhang to emerge from the top half of the draw without being pushed – winning all three matches 3-0.  This dominant trend continued into the Final as they topped Brazil’s Guilherme Teodoro and Giulia Takahashi 3-0.  Note the parity in this hemisphere through the first five events with one event win each to USA, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Canada.

In Men’s Singles, USA’s Kanak Jha fell victim to a hot Emanuel Otalvaro of Colombia – losing 4-1, with tight scores of 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, and 11-8.  The other American in the draw was Jishan Liang – who made it to the Round of 16 before falling to Hugo Calderano.  Otalvaro, who is only 16, made it all the way to the Semifinals, where he fell to Guilherme Teodoro.  In the other half of the draw, Hugo Calderano was dominant winning the Semifinal 4-0 to reach the all-Brazil Final.

In Women’s Singles, all four Americans reached the Round of 16, and three reached the final 8.  Only Lily Zhang reached the Semifinals, where she fell to top seeded Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico 4-2.  In the other Semifinal, Canada’s Mo Zhang defeated Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi 4-3.  The Final will be Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz and Mo Zhang of Canada.

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