by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

In the Men’s Singles events, Aloisio Lima Junior, the Class 1 winner in Toronto will be on duty in Central America as will Iranaldo Espindola in Class 2 and Paulo Salmin in Class 7; similarly in the Women’s Singles competitions the name of Catia de Silva Oliveira appears on the entry list. Two years ago in Canada she won the Women’s Singles Class 1-2 title.

Also, in action in San José will be Chile’s Matias Pino, Mexico’s Edith Sigala Lopez and Canada’s Stephanie Chan. They all struck gold in Toronto. Matias Pino won Men’s Singles Class 6, whilst in the Women’s Singles events, Edith Sigala Lopez secured the Class 3 title, Stephanie Cham was anointed the Class 7 champion.

Notably the tournament is held every four years and is always two years after the Parapan American Games; the most recent meeting was in 2013 and also in San José, Costa Rica.

On that occasion Paulo Salmin and Edith Sigala Lopez also claimed gold; Paulo Salmin won the Men’s Singles Class 7 title, for Edith Sigala Lopez it was success in Women’s Singles Class 3-5.

Meanwhile, in addition, Argentina’s Giselle Muñoz alongside Fernando Eberhardt and Gabriel Copola reserved gold as did Brazil’s Jennifer Marques. Giselle Muñoz won Women’s Singles Class 6-7, Jennifer Marques, Women’s Singles Class 8-10. Similarly, Fernando Eberhardt secured the Men’s Singles Class 1 title, Gabriel Copola emerged as the Men’s Singles Class 3 champion. All are present in San José.

A total of 115 men and 23 women will compete, representing 15 national associations. The national associations in question are: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, the United States and Venezuela.