by Ian Marshall, Editor
In Barranquilla, it is the team competitions that commence matters; in the Women’s Team event with Fabiola Diaz replacing Carelyn Cordero, Puerto Rico occupies the top ranked place. In the counterpart Men’s Team event they are the no.5 seeds. Brian Afanador and Daniel Gonzalez remain from four years ago; Yomar Gonzalez and Ricardo Jimenez complete the line-up.
Cuba led by Andy Pereira, the Men’s Singles winner in Xalapa, head the Men’s Team seeding; he is supported by Jorge Campos, Livan Martinez and Juan Rondon. Next in line is Mexico who select from Dario Arce, Miguel Lara, Marcos Madrid and Ricardo Villa. The Dominican Republic with Samuel Galvez, Mariano Lockward, Emil Santos and Isaac Vila named on the entry list, occupy the no.3 seeded position. Guatemala’s Hector Gatica, Allan Gutierrez, Kevin Montufar and Heber Moscoso complete the top four.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Team event, next on the list to Puerto Rico is Colombia represented by Manuela Echeverry, Paula Medina, Luisa Zuluaga. They are listed one place ahead of Cuba who field the squad of Lisi Castillo, Idalys Lovat, Shelly Machado Fernandez and Lizdai Rodriguez. Just as in the Men’s Team event Guatemala occupied the no.4 seeded spot; they will be represented by Lucia Cordero, Mabelyn Enriquez, Andrea Estrada and Hidalynn Zapata.
A total of 11 national associations compete in each of the Men’s Team and Women’s Team events; later in the proceedings, Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles events will be staged. Overall 51 men and 45 women will compete in the table tennis events.
Table tennis is one of 40 sports on the agenda; in total 37 nations will compete, some 470 events involving no less than an estimated 5,254 athletes will be present in Barranquilla.
