by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Occupying the no.8 seeded position in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event, he emerged successful in a testing five games encounter against Trinidad and Tobago’s Finn Bos (11-2, 10-12, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6), before rather more comfortably accounting for El Salvador’s Rodrigo Sanchez (11-3, 11-5, 11-5).

A comfortable win it was back to hard fought success for his concluding match. He emerged victorious in five games when facing Sweden’s Jens Holmqvist (11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-0, 11-8).

Upset seeding

Success against Swedish opposition; later in the day, in the Junior Boys’ Singles event, it was further success against the Nordic country that was to cause the day’s major upset.

After accounting for Costa Rica’s Josué Sanchez (11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7) and El Salvador’s Diego Castellanos (2-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6); the Puerto Rican teenager upset the odds; he overcame Hannes Iwarsson, the no.5 seed (9-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5) to secure first place in the group and thus brought a most successful day to a positive conclusion.

Second place

Defeat for Hannes Iwarsson but earlier wins over Diego Castellanos (11-3, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9) and Josué Sanchez (11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5) meant that he secured second place in the group and thus a passage to the main draw.

Players finishing in first and second positions in both the Junior Boys’ Singles and Junior Girls’ Singles events advance to the second phase.

Oskar Danielsson

Runners up spot for Hannes Iwarsson, for the remaining leading names it was first place, the only member of the elite to experience problems being Oskar Danielsson, like Hannes Iwarsson from Sweden.

In his opening contest he needed the full five games to beat Guatemala’s Camilo Cordero (8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6). A brave effort from Camilo Cordero but it was to be third place in the group and no progress to the main draw.

In his concluding group stage match he was beaten by the host nation’s Jaime Galeano (11-8, 11-4, 12-10) who, having earlier beaten Trinidad and Tobago’s Matthew Mootra (11-8, 11-2, 11-8) prior to losing to Oskar Danielsson (12-10, 11-6, 11-4), duly secured second spot in the group and a main draw place.

Leading names

Otherwise for the leading names it was a smooth passage to the main draw.

Puerto Rico’s Yomar Gonzalez, Francisco Matias and Sebastian Echevarria duly topped their groups, as did Brazil’s Siddharta Almeida alongside Trinidad and Tobago’s Aaron Wilson and Ecuador’s Bryan Escobar.

Bryan Escobar

First place for Bryan Escobar, it was the same in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event where he is the top seed.

He finished in first place as did the next in line, Emilio Wong and Jacobo Vahnish from Panama; likewise it was first place for Costa Rica’s José Perez as it was for Guatemala’s Luis Ton in addition to the El Salvador duo of Enzo Leiva and Cidenim Martinez.

Hopes event

Meanwhile, in the Hopes Boys’ Singles event, Paraguay’s Elias Apud and Guatemala’s Luis Ton finished in first places in their groups alongside the Swedish duo of Nikola Jovanovic and Love Iwarsson.

Conclusion

Play in San Salvador concludes on Sunday 28th August.