BRAZIL AND THE UNITED STATES ARE THE KINGS OF TEAM TABLE TENNIS

On the final day of competition at the Pan American Games, both countries won gold in the team category.

Tennis players from the United States and Brazil were respectively crowned team champions of the men’s and women’s table tennis competitions at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, bringing the events at the Santiago National Olympic Training Center to a close.

The first final was the women’s final, where the United States defeated Puerto Rico 3-1. The American team consisted of Amy Wang, Lily Zhang and Rachel Sung, while the Puerto Rican team consisted of Adriana Díaz, Melanie Díaz and Brianna Burgos.

“I’m very happy, very excited because I won it not only for myself, but with my teammates. I think winning together as a team means more than winning individually. “I am very happy that we won this gold medal,” said Amy Wang.

The first match was doubles and was played by Brianna Burgos and Melanie Díaz for Puerto Rico, while for the United States Amy Wang and Rachel Sung. The Americans won this duel in sets of 11-4, 11-7, 11-9. The second match featured Adriana Díaz against Lily Zhang. This match was won by the Puerto Rican by partial scores of 7-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10. The penultimate match pitted Brianna Burgos against Rachel Sung. This match ended with scores of 11-6, 11-9, 12-14, 11-1 in favor of the United States. The last duel took place between Adriana Díaz and Amy Wang, an intense match that the American managed to win in sets of 11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 8-11, 16-14.

“The Puerto Rican table tennis team really did a great job in the competition. We exceeded expectations, we did not think we would reach the final in the team category and beyond that we showed that we were a family,” said Adriana Díaz after the defeat.

In this category there is no decisive match for third and fourth place, which is why Chile and Brazil won bronze.

HUGO CALDERANO LEADS BRAZIL

The men’s final pitted Brazil against Canada, with the former winning 3-1. Brazil played with Hugo Calderano, Kenji Jouti and Vitor Ishiy, and the Canadian trident consisted of Simeon Martin, Eugene Wang and Edward Ly.

The first match was between Jouti and Ishiy against Martin and Wang. This victory was obtained by Brazil by scores of 11-9, 11-5, 11-6. The second match was played by Calderano against Ly, the victory went to the Brazilian 10-12, 11-0, 11-5, 11-4. The penultimate matchup was Wang versus Jouti. On this occasion, the Canadian won 11-9, 11-8, 12-10. The last match was played again by Hugo Calderano against Simeón Martin and was won by the Brazilian 11-6, 11-9, 11-7.

“I know my responsibilities within the team, everyone expects me to win the Games. We have to keep training hard. We have many international tournaments and preparations for the Olympic Games in Paris,” Hugo Calderano said after the victory.

With this medal, Calderano, current world number 4, obtained three medals at these Pan American Games, including one silver in the men’s doubles category and two gold, individually and the recent one in the team.

In this category there is no decisive match for third and fourth place, which is why the United States and Argentina received bronze..

Written by Francisco Fouilloux