by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Brazil very much leads the field, the continent’s largest country in terms of both geographical size and population occupies the top spot in each of the Under 13 Boys’ Team and Under 13 Girls’ Team events.
Notably Giulia Takahashi spearheads the latter; she is very much the prominent player on duty and she has a special liking for Asuncion.
Earlier this year she was the runner up in the Junior Girls’ Singles event at the Paraguay Junior and Cadet Open; she was beaten in the final by 15 year old colleague Beatrix Kmoto.
Furthermore, Giulia Takahashi was on duty at the recent Seamaster 2017 ITTF Challenge Brazil Open; notably she progressed to the quarter-final round of the Under 21 Women’s Singles event where again a more senior Brazilian colleague ended progress. She experienced defeat at the hands of Livia Lima.
In the Under 13 Girls’ Team event, she lines up alongside Laura Watanabe and Laira Silva.
Meanwhile, in the counterpart Under 13 Boys’ Team event; similarly the top seeded position belongs to Brazil; they select from Gustavo Gertsmann, Henrique Nogubi, Shim Joon and Luigi Yamane.
Top seeded places for Brazil, in the Under 11 Boys’ Team and Under 11 Girls’ Team event, the respective countries at the top of the list are Argentina and Peru.
Argentina chooses from Nicolas Callabra, Tonis Alin, Tobias Pereyra and Thiago Peralta; for Peru the nominated players are Anna Yenobi and Valentina Zea.
A total of 63 boys and 56 girls will compete in the five day tournament.
2017 South American Under 11 and Under 13 Championships: List of entries and countries participating