by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Just one place available in each of the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events, a knock-out event, single elimination, was the order of the day; there was no room for error.
A straight games win over compatriot Xie Tianming (11-5,11-2,11-6, 11-4) gave Kanak Jha the ideal start; he followed with success against Canada’s Luc Sicard in a similar vein (11-9, 11-4, 11-9, 11-5) but then when facing a further American at the semi-final stage, he found life much more testing. He needed to full seven games to overcome Nikhil Kumar (11-4, 10-12, 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4).
Testing times but a place in the final booked, he beat Canada’s Jeremy Hazin in a more comfortable manner to reserve his Buenos Aires invitation (11-7, 11-3, 11-6, 11-2).
In the opposite half of the draw Jeremy Hazin had doused the hopes of the United States by beating Edward Ly (11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 4-11, 6-11, 11-5), Jack Wang (11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 12-1, 14-12) and Victor Liu (11-8, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5).
Third place finished in the hand of Victor Liu; he beat Nikhil Kumar in six games (11-9, 1-12, 11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6).
Impressive from Kanak Jha, it was even more impressive from Amy Wang, she was never extended the full seven games distance.
Facing fellow Americans, she accounted for Laura Lai (11-5, 11-1, 11-4, 11-5), Benita Zhou (11-6,11-7,11-6, 11-5), Grace Yang (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-9) and Crystal Wang (11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-7) to reserve her invitation to the Argentine capital city.
Similarly, in the opposite half of the draw, Crystal Wang had imposed her authority on proceedings; en route to the final, she had beaten compatriots Isabelle Xiong (11-6, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8), Rachel Yang (11-7, 12-10, 11-3, 11-2) and Canada’s Ivy Liao (11-8, 11-7, 11-3, 11-6).
Third place finished in the hands of Grace Yang, in the play-off contest she accounted for Ivy Liao (11-8, 11-6, 12-14, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7).
Buenos Aires 218 North American Continental Qualification Tournament:
Full Results – Men’s Singles
Buenos Aires 218 North American Continental Qualification Tournament:
Full Results – Women’s Singles
Continental Tournaments – Qualifiers (as on Sunday 17th December)
Men
Africa: Youssef Abdel Aziz (Egypt), Nathael Hamdoun (Tunisia)
Asia: Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan), Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei), Wang Chuqin (China), Cho Daeseong (Korea)
Europe: Ioannis Sgouropoulos (Greece), Vladimir Sidorenko (Russia), Medardas Stankievicius (Lithuania), Vladislav Urdu (Moldova)
Latin America: Nicolas Burgos (Chile), Guillerme Teodoro (Brazil)
North America: Kanak Jha (United States)
Oceania: Nathan Xu (New Zealand)
Women
Africa: Esther Oribamise (Nigeria), Marwa Alhodaby (Egypt)
Asia: Miu Hirano (Japan), Su Pei-Ling (China), Jinnipa Sawettabut (Thailand), Su Pei-Ling (Chinese Taipei)
Europe: Lucie Gauthier (France), Mariia Tailakova (Russia), Ning Jing (Azerbaijan), Nadezhda Bogdanova (Belarus)
Latin America: Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico), Bruna Takahashi (Brazil)
North America: Amy Wang (United States)
Oceania: Vong Hui Ling (New Zealand)
