by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Furthermore, he is the defending champion, having last year, when the tournament was staged in the Canadian city of Burnaby, secured the title beating colleague Jack Wang in the final.

In Buenos Aires, Jack Wang is the no.7 seed and he may well renew acquaintances with Argentine opponents. One year ago at the quarter-final stage of the Boys’ Singles event he beat Horacio Cifuentes by the very narrowest of margins, before ending the hopes of Martin Bentancor in the penultimate round.

Now in 2017, there will be no Horacio Cifuentes in the draw, he is too old for the junior ranks but it could well be Argentina that presents the greatest challenge to the aspirations of Kanak Jha and Jack Wang.

Francisco Sanchi is the no.2 seed, Martin Bentancor is the no.11 seed; status suggests that the former is a major challenger for honours, the latter somewhat of an outsider but, of course one year ago Martin Bentancor was a bronze medallist. Most pertinently at the quarter-final stage in Burnaby, Martin Bentancor beat Sharon Alguetti, like Kanak Jha and Jack Wang from the United States. In Buenos Aires, Sharon Alguetti is the no.5 seed.

Conversely, Francisco Sanchi departed in round two, he was beaten by Adar Alguetti, who advanced to the semi-final round, losing to Kanak Jha. In 2017, the name of Adar Alguetti does not appear on the Buenos Aires entry list.

Sandwiched in between Francisco Sanchi and Sharon Alguetti are Victor Liu from the United States and Canada’s Jeremy Hazin; Brazil’s Siddharta Almeida is the no.6 seed, with colleague, Carlos Ishida completing the top eight names.

Neither Victor Liu nor Carlos Ishida competed in Burnaby; Jeremy Hazin and Siddharta Almeida were both present. Both departed in round two against players who are now too old for the junior age group. Jeremy Hazin was beaten by Allen Wang of the United States, Siddharta Almeida lost to Canada’s Filip Ilijevski.

A total of 50 players will compete in the 2017 ITTF-Panam Junior Championships.