by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

He finished in second place in his qualification group; he was beaten by Brazil’s Guilherme Marcio da Costa (12-14, 11-9, 11-9) the player he will face in the final.

Runners up spot was the eventual lot for the Chilean and thus a semi-final place was booked; in all Para events where there are two stages, players finishing in first and second positions in each group advance to the main draw.

A penultimate place reserved, it was at that stage, Luis Bustamante excelled; he accounted for Iranildo Espindola, the top seed and like Guilherme Marcio da Costa from Brazil to reserve his place in the gold medal contest. Luis Bustamante prevailed in a full distance five games contest (6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-8).

In the counterpart semi-final, Guilherme Marcio da Costa had beaten compatriot Lacodaire Viana de Menezes Segunda (11-2, 11-2, 11-7).

A surprise finalist in Class 2 but not in the remaining Men’s Singles wheelchair categories; organised on a group basis, Argentina’s Fernando Eberhardt and Brazil’s Alosio Lima, the top two names in Class 1 both remained unbeaten and now meet to decide top spot.

Meanwhile, in the remaining categories, where two stages were the order of proceedings, the top two seeds both remained unbeaten and enjoyed semi-final success. In Class 3, Argentina’s Gabriel Copola and Brazil’s David Andrade Freitas meet in the final, in Class 4 Alexandre Ank, also from Brazil confronts Chile’s Cristian Gonzalez; in Class 5 the host nation’s Mauro Depergola confronts colleague Daniel Rodriguez.

2017 Copa Tango Para Open: Latest results and forthcoming matches