by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Impressively Vitor Ishiy beat the host nation’s Santiago Montes in three straight games (11-2, 11-9, 11-2); in one game more Gaston Alto accounted for Ecuador’s Adrian Cabrera (11-1, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4), whilst in a similar vein Jorge Campos defeated Peru’s Jhon loli (12-14, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5).
Comfortable wins, no great moments of drama; for Gustavo Gomez life was very different. He needed the full five games to beat Jonathan Salazar, like Santiago Montes from Colombia; he won but only just, coming perilously close to defeat in the decider (13-15, 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 12-10).
Success for leading names required to compete in the initial stage in their opening matches. However, two prominent personalities, the highest rated in their particular groups, did experience defeat.
The Dominican Republic’s Emil Santos lost to Paraguay’s Axel Gavilan (11-6, 6-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6); Cuba’s Livan Martinez experienced defeat at the hands of Colombia’s Joaquin Villegas (12-10, 1-11, 11-8, 11-4).
Otherwise, in an event where players finishing in first and second places in each group advance to the main draw it was success for the highest rated.
Play in the qualification stage concludes on Friday 15th September.
The top eight listed players – Hugo Calderano (Brazil), Thiago Monteiro (Brazil), Marcos Madrid (Mexico), Eric Jouti (Brazil), Andy perieira (Cuba), Albert Miño (Ecuador), Marcelo Aguirre (Paraguay, Felipe Olivares (Chile) – all receive direct entries to the main draw.
