by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
The Class 3-4 event was very much dominated by Brazil with Alexandre Maciera being a somewhat surprise winner.
Occupying the no.3 seeded position in the competition; he beat Chile’s Geovanni Rodriguez, the no.2 seed, at the semi-final stage (14-12, 14-16, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9), before accounting for compatriot Eziquiel Babes, the top seed, in the final (5-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8).
Somewhat differently for Nilson da Silva Oliveira and Claudio Massad, it was success as expected; both commenced matters as the top seeds.
Impressively Claudio Massad beat Chile’s Alvaro Vega, the no.2 seed, in the final; whilst in a group organised all-play-all event, Nilson da Silva finished ahead of Marco Makkar of the United States and Brazilian colleague Alexon Chilis.
Success for Brazil, in the remaining events decided on the second day of play, it was honours shared with in each instance the top seed emerging victorious.
Competing in group organised events, Russia’s Elena Epishkina won Women’s Singles Class 6-10; Frenchman Julien Michaud secured the Men’s Singles Class 1-2 title.
Elena Espinosa finished ahead of Chile’s Ailyn Espinosa and compatriot Fatma Fattakhoba, whilst next in line to Julien Michaud came the Brazilian duo of Bruno de Paulo Peres Braga and Hemerson Kovalski,
Meanwhile, in Men’s Singles Class 6-7, Chile’s Matias Pino justified his top ranked position; in Men’s Singles Class 9, Nobuyuki Suzuki did exactly the same.
In an all Chilean final, Matias Pino accounted for Costa Rica’s Roman Chinchilla in the final (11-5, 11-4, 14-12), a player very much in form; at the semi-final stage he had beaten Brazil’s Luis Medina, the no.2 seed (11-5, 11-8, 11-7).
Similarly, in the Men’s Singles Class 9 final, Nobuyuki Suzuk met an adversary who had caused a semi-final upset. He beat Germany’s Christian Kalb (11-7, 15-13, 11-5), the penultimate round winner against Chile’s Manuel Echaveguren, the no.2 seed (11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8).
Play in the individual events concluded, attention now turns to the team competitions; play concludes on Saturday 10th December.
2016 Copa Costa Rica: Full Results of Individual Events
2016 Copa Costa Rica: Results of Team Events