by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
The top seeded combination of Brazil’s Siddharta Almeida and Trinidad and Tobago’s Aaron Wilson experienced defeat in their doubles contest against the El Salvador ‘A’ Team pairing of Oliver Mendoza and Oscar Villalta (11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9).
A three matches to one win was the order of the day, before three-nil wins were posted against Trinidad and Tobago’s Matthew Mootra and Luc François Xavier O’Young, in addition to the Guatemala ‘B’ Team combination of Gian Rivera and Roberto Diaz.
Similar
Likewise, the second seeded Puerto Rico combination of Yomar Gonzalez and Sebastian Echevarria suffered a doubles reverse when opposing the El Salvador ‘B’ Team partnership of Jaime Galeano and Harold Leiva (5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4).
However, as with the top seeds, that was the only hiccup; three-nil wins were posted against Luis de la Cruz and Camilo Cordero representing Guatemala ‘A’, as well as when confronting the Panama combination of José Miguel Cachafeiro and Alberto Gorgona.
Sweden
Doubles troubles, it was the same for the third seeded Swedish partnership comprising Oskar Danielsson and Hannes Iwarsson.
They beat the El Salvador ‘C’ Team combination of Diego Castellanos and Guillermo Bolanos by three matches to nil before recording the same margin of victory in opposition to Costa Rica’s Josué Sanchez and Kevin Fernandez.
However, against Puerto Rico ‘B’, there was defeat in the doubles; Matias Francisco and Gabriel Perez overcame Oskar Danielsson and Hannes Iwarsson in four games (9-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6).
Second Places
Notably the outfits that had secured the doubles success all finished in second places in their respective groups and thus advanced to the main draw; as is common practice, teams finishing in first and second positions advance.
Thus there were main draw places for El Salvador ‘A’, El Salvador ‘B’ and Puerto Rico ‘B’.
Three Groups
Similarly, in the Cadet Boys’ Team event, there were three groups in the initial phase of affairs.
Notably the combination of Ecuador’s Bryan Escobar and Paraguay’s Elias Apud secured first place in their group as did the outfits from Costa Rica. It was first place for the Costa Rica ‘A’ Team duo of Ricardo Azofeifa and Alfredo Sanchez, as it was for the Costa Rica ‘B’ Team combination of José Perez and Juan Trejos.
Host Nation
Meanwhile, there were second positions and thus main draw places for the host nation as well as for Trinidad and Tobago.
Cidenim Martinez and Enzo Leiva of El Salvador ‘A’ secured runners up spot as did their colleagues, Celvin Perez and Romulo Perez of El Salvador ‘B’. Likewise it was second position for Nikoli Barbour and Alexis Jesse Dookie of Trinidad and Tobago.
Conclusion
Play in the Junior Boys’ Team and Cadet Boys’ Team events conclude on Friday 26th August.
