by Ian Marshall
Four places in the men’s singles event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, three for women plus one mixed doubles pair are the prizes on offer.
In early August at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, Brazil’s Hugo Calderano and Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz won the respective men’s singles and women’s singles events. Thus, they reserved Tokyo places.
Later in the year, also in Lima, Brazil emerged successful in both the men’s team and women’s team competitions at the Latin American Team competition; therefore, in addition, they reserved two places in each of the men’s singles and women’s singles events.
Hugo Calderano qualifies for Tokyo as a member of the Brazilian men’s team; as Puerto Rico did not qualify via the team event, one of the four women’s singles quota positions is allocated to Adriana Diaz. Thus, three places for women, as opposed to the full four for men, is the situation in Rosario.
Best of seven games throughout, the tournament will be organised on a knock-out basis.
The first knock-out stage will be seeded according to the current Olympic world ranking; in both the men’s singles and women’s singles events, the finalists will gain Tokyo places. The final will not be played.
Two places decided, a second knock-out event for those who did not reach the final will follow. Finishing positions in the initial knock-out tournament followed by Olympic world ranking will determine seeding.
In the men’s singles, the same formula as in the first knock-out event will be followed; for the women, only the winner qualifies.
Paraguay’s Marcelo Aguirre, Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes, Mexico’s Marcos Madrid followed by Ecuador’s Alberto Miño are the respective top four names in the men’s singles. In the women’s singles Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz heads the order. Next in the line is Chile’s Paulina Vega and Daniela Ortega, Argentina’s Camila Arguelles completes the order.
A total of 24 players are scheduled to compete in the men’s singles; overall 21 in the women’s singles; 13 pairs have registered for the mixed doubles.
