by Ian Marshall

In the men’s singles event, Peru’s Felipe Duffoo and Chile’s Andres Martinez emerged successful; for the women it was the Venezuelan pairing of Camila Obando and Cristina Gomez.

Notably, Camila Obando performed the recovery of the day: in the decisive contest, facing Panama’s Lia Rodriguez, Obando lost the first two games before winning the next four (8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8) to reserve her Cali place.

Success in her first meeting against the Panamanian, for the remaining three qualifiers it was déjà vu.

Cristina Gomez, having lost to Peru’s Ana Aragon at the quarter-final hurdle the previous day (11-6, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8), in the contest to determine a place in Cali, reversed the decision. She emerged successful in four straight games (11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7).

Similarly, in the men’s singles event, Andres Martinez turned the tables.

In the first knock-out tournament, in the round of the last eight he had lost to Venezuela’s Cesar Castillo (11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9); on the second day of action, at the same stage he emerged successful (11-9, 12-10, 11-5, 9-11, 14-12) to book his place in the penultimate round. Maintaining good form, he overcame Panama’s Emilio Wong (11-3, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3).

Meanwhile, for Andres Martinez it was a repeat success. After accounting for Luis Vanegas, like Cesar Castillo from Venezuela (11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5), he overcame El Salvador’s Enzo Leiva to reserve his Cali place.

In the first knock-out tournament, he had prevailed in straight games (11-1, 11-7, 12-10, 14-12), in the second it was just the same (11-4, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6).

Play in San José now turns to the Central American Championships; play commences on Friday 14th May and concludes on Wednesday 19th May.