by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Organised on an all-play-all basis; she secured first place without the loss of a single individual game.
Impressively, she overcame Venezuela’s Edith Capacho (12-10, 11-5, 11-3), before accounting for Argentina’s Aylen Schevintt (11-1, 11-0, 11-3) and Colombia’s Juliana Valbuena (11-3, 11-7, 11-7) to claim the top prize. Second place was claimed by Juliana Valbuena with Edith Capacho and Aylen Schevintt, the next in line.
Impressive form from Lethicia Lacerda, it was the same in Women’s Singles Class 3-4 from Manuela Guapi, like Juliana Valbuena, from Colombia.
Likewise, in a group administered event, she maintained an unblemished record. Imposingly she accounted for Mexico’s Claudia Banuelos (11-3, 11-2, 11-7), prior to defeating the host nation pairing of Camila Dos Santos (11-3, 11-5, 11-8) and Maria de Freitas (11-6, 19-17, 11-7). Camila Dos Santos ended matters in runners up spot with Maria de Freitas in third spot ahead of Claudia Banuelos.
Notably, on the opening day, in the Women’s Singles events, in Class 5, Chile’s Tamara Leonelli remained unbeaten; as in Class 9-10 did colleague Ailyn Espinoza in addition to the Brazilian duo of Danielle Rauen and Iolanda Maia de Almeida.
Meanwhile, in the Men’s Singles competitions; in Class 1-4, Colombia’s Alejandro Gomez ended the day with an unblemished record, as in Class 5 did both Argentina’s Elias Romero and Brazil’s Matheus Michetti.
Similarly, in Class 6 it was a series of wins for Chile’s Matias Pino; a situation that applied in Class 7 to Costa Rica’s Steven Roman as well as to the Brazilian pairing of Gustavo Laskosky and Paulo Fonseca.
Impressive performances, no defeats, in Class 8 it was the same experience for Ecuador’s Gabriel Salazar, Canada’s Curtis Caron and Chile’s Marcelo Saavedra.
Not to be upstaged, unbeaten performances were the order of the day in Class 9 for Miguel Vazquez, like Curtis Caron from Canada, as they were from Chile’s Manuel Echaveguren Farias and Sebastian Diaz. In Class 10 the latter duo’s colleague, Alvaro Vega remained unbeaten, as did Brazil’s Lucas dos Santos.
Play in the individual events concludes on Wednesday 22nd March.