by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Organised on a group basis; Guatemala emerged as the one unbeaten outfit in the Under 18 Girls’ Team event when play concluded on the initial day of action.

She maintained a clean sheet as a three-nil win was recorded against the Costa Rico trio of Paola Marato, Nicole Granados and Fiorella Vallecillo, followed by a hard fought three-two success when confronting the Mexican formation of Ingrid Gama, Melanie de Jesus and Maria Vega.

El Salvador faces Guatemala in the concluding match in the group; Mexico opposes Costa Rica.

Meanwhile, supported by George Wang, Layan Neumann and Mikael Muñoz; Diego Fuentes proved the backbone on Mexican success in the first phase of the Under 18 Boys’ Team event.

A three-nil win was posted against the Costa Rica trio of Alejandro Cordero, Daniel Araya and Gerson Carballo; the result being followed by a hard fought three-two success when facing the El Salvador outfit comprising Oliver Mendoza, Oscar Villalta and Jaime Galeano.

Two wins to set the schedule in motion; top place in the group was secured with a second three-nil win of the day, when facing the Panama formation of José Cachafeiro, Emilio Wong and Gustavo Polanco.

First position for Mexico, in the corresponding group, it was pole position for the host nation combination of Noe Sanchez, Handel Saguil and Julio Quezada; however, the player to catch the eye was Nicaragua’s Gary Castro.

He remained unbeaten throughout the day; notably against Guatemala he overcame both Julio Quezada (11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8) and Noe Sanchez (5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9) as the host nation posted a three matches to two win.

Earlier, the Guatemalan outfit had recorded three matches to two wins when facing the Honduras team comprising Ronal Hernandez, Antoine Rivera and David Sanchez, prior to securing the same margin of victory when opposing the Belize selection of Manuel Castellanos, Kevin Chen Zi Jian and Gersom Carballo.

At the semi-final stage Mexico meets Nicaragua; Guatemala faces El Salvador.

2017 Central American Under 18 and Under 15 Championships: Players and Teams (Wednesday 8th February)

2017 Central American Under 18 and Under 15 Championships: Team event results (Wednesday 8th February)

2017 Central American Under 18 and Under 15 Championships: Draw for individual events (Wednesday 8th February)