by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
In the Men’s team, 23 year old Eric Jouti lines up alongside the one year younger Vitor Ishiy; the more experienced Thiago Monteiro, now 36 years of age and 28 year old Humberto Manhani complete the line-up.
The Brazilians start as top seeds as do their female counterparts; Gui Lin, 24 years old and Jessica Yamada, 28 years of age join forces with Bruna Takahashi who is very much the junior in the team. Impressive in London, she is only 17 years old.
Three groups in the first stage of each event; in the Men’s Team competition Chile represented by Felipe Olivares, Gustavo Gomez, Juan Lamadrid and Manuel Moya occupy the second seeded position followed by the Argentine selection of Gaston Alto, Santiago Lorenzo and Daniel Len.
Similarly, in the Women’s Team event, Chile and Argentina are the next in line to Brazil. Chile selects from Paulina Vega, Judith Morales, Daniela Ortega and Cristal Meneses; for Argentina Ana Codina, Camila Arguelles and Candela Molero are the players on duty.
Fixtures follow the format used at recent Olympic Games; three players per team, four singles and one doubles should the contest extend the full five match distance. No player may compete in more than two matches per fixture; the doubles being the third match of the engagement.
The individual events – Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles. Mixed Doubles – commence later in the week.
Men’s Team Event – First Stage Groups
Group One: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Guyana
Group Two: Chile, Mexico, El Salvador
Group Three: Argentina, Cuba, Barbados
Women’s Team Event – First Stage Groups
Group One: Brazil, Cuba, Mexico
Group Two: Chile, Colombia, Guyana
Group Three: Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador
2018 Latin American Senior Championships: Men’s Team & Women’s Team – Seeding (Sunday 4th March)
2018 Latin American Senior Championships: Men’s Team & Women’s Team – First Stage (Sunday 4th March)