by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
One day earlier Francisco Sanchi and Martin Bentancor had experienced a three-one semi-final reverse at the hands of Siddharta Almeida and Luiz Anjos; one round earlier Santiago Tolosa, in partnership with Leandro Fuentes, had experienced defeat at the hands of Carlos Ishida and Eduardo Tomoike.
The defeat for Santiago Tolosa was sheer agony; notably in the three-two loss, he had beaten both Carlos Ishida (12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 3-11, 11-6) and Eduardo Tomoike (9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9).
In the initial phase of the Junior Boys’ Singles event, he took no prisoners; three games to nil wins on each visit to the table. He accounted for Paraguay’s Bruno Barni (11-5, 11-2, 11-4), Brazil’s Kenzo Carmo (11-5, 11-9, 11-6) and Sweden’s Marcos Ericcson (11-4, 11-8, 11-5) to secure first place in the group.
Likewise both Francisco Sanchi and Martin Bentancor were in imperious form. Francisco Sanchi finished ahead of Chile’s Andres Martinez and Sweden’s Teodor Siljeholm; in a similar manner, Canada Kenny Jiang, Chile’s Esteban Nannig and the host nation’s Fabrizio Bertolo ended the day next in line to Martin Bentancor.
Unblemished records, for Leandro Fuentes, he experienced defeat at the Brazil’s David Godoi (11-7, 11-7, 11-4) and thus finished in second place in the group behind his nemesis. Defeat but a place in the main draw reserved; players finishing in first and second places in each group in all singles events advance to the main draw.
Success for Argentina; also most notably there was success for Brazil. In addition to Daniel Godoy; Siddharta Almeida, Luiz Anjos, Carlos Ishida, Lauro Sebold and Eduardo Tomoike all remained unbeaten to top their respective groups.
First places for Brazil and Argentina in the group stage of the Junior Boys’ Singles event; similarly in the counterpart stage of the Junior Girls’ Singles competition, the two countries also enjoyed success.
Beatriz Kimoto and Giulia Takahashi flew the flag for Brazil; for Argentina it was Camila Kaizoji.
Also there was notable success for Chile and Paraguay; for the former Valentina Rios and Natasha Rios secured first places in their respective groups, for the latter it was top spot for Leyla Gomez and Cielo Mutti. In the one remaining group it was first place for Canada’s Isabelle Xiong.
A busy day completed and with cadet age group player permitted to compete in the junior events one more intense day awaits; play concludes on Sunday 25th March.
