by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

In both instances it was the top two seeds that met, in the Men’s Team title decider, the result went as status suggested, Brazil beat Argentina by three matches to nil; earlier in the Women’s Team final it had been the reverse scenario. Brazil had upset the order of merit by recording a three-one win in opposition to the United States.

Star of the show for Brazil in the Women’s Team final was 17 year old Bruna Takahashi; she beat Crystal Wang in the opening match of the fixture (6-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6), before in the fourth contest, the one which concluded matters, accounting for Wu Yue (13-11, 4-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-1).

Most impressive from Bruna Takahashi, for colleague Gui Lin, it was revenge. In the final of the Women’s Singles event at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, she had been beaten by Wu Yue; in Cartagena de Indias she turned the tables. She recorded a five games win (11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-13, 11-5) to sway the momentum inextricably in favour of Brazil.

The one win for the United States was secured by Grace Yang; in the third match of the fixture, she accounted for Bruna Alexandre (12-10, 11-3, 10-12, 2-11, 11-7).

Success for the Brazilian women was followed by an emphatic success for their male counterparts.

Against Argentina, Eric Jouti gave his team the ideal start by beating Gaston Alto (11-8, 11-6, 11-5), he was followed by Thiago Monteiro who accounted for Horacio Cifuentes by the narrowest of decisions (11-4, 5-11, 13-11, 8-11, 13-11), before Vitory Ishiy beat Pablo Tabachnik (11-3, 11-9, 11-3) to end matters.

Play in the team events over, attention now turns to individual events; proceedings conclude on Sunday 17th September