by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

After accounting for the Panama ‘B’ Team pairing of Andres Henriquez and Emilio Wong by three matches to nil, followed by success by the same margin in opposition to the Guatemala ‘A’ combination of Roberto Diaz and Gian Rivera; they upset the pecking order by overcoming El Salvador’s Oliver Mendoza and Oscar Villalta, the no.3 seeds.

Success by three matches to one was to prove the end result with man of the moment being Layan Neumann. In the second match of the fixture, by the very narrowest of margins, he accounted for Oliver Mendoza in what was to prove the crucial contest of the engagement (7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9). The win came after Alberto Lopez had beaten Oscar Villalta (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9).

The host nation trailing by two matches to nil, the doubles was secured (11-7, 14-12, 14-16, 11-4), before Layan Neuman returned to the scene. He overcame Oscar Villalta to end matters (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9).

Defeat for Oliver Mendoza and Oscar Villalta but it was their only defeat; thus they secured second position in the group and a place in the quarter-finals.

Teams finishing in first and second positions in each of the four groups advance to the main draw.

Problems for the third seeded outfit but not for the top two; the combination of Panama’s Jacobo Vahnish and India’s Mudit Dani duly secured first place in their group as did Sweden’s Oskar Danielsson and Iskar Hedlund. Respective second places were secured by El Salvador ‘C’ represented by Diego Castellano and Jonathan Flores alongside the Mexico ‘A’ partnership of Mikael Muñoz and Adrian Castillo.

Meanwhile, in the one remaining group, which involved players who did not possess a current world ranking, the top place was secured by the El Salvador ‘B’ pairing of Jamie Galeano and Diego Orantes with Costa Rica’s Daniel Araya and Victor Urena in second place.

The Junior Boys’ Team event concludes on Thursday 17th August.