by Ian Marshall, Editor

Earlier in the week, she had joined forces with Laura Watanabe and Fabiana Shintate to win the cadet girls’ team title, before partnering Laura Watanabe to cadet girls’ doubles success and Shim Joon to cadet mixed doubles gold.

Impressive from the very first day, it was no different on the last. The top seed, she beat Laura Watanabe, the no.2 seed, in the final (11-6, 6-11, 11-2, 11-8), after at the quarter-final stage having ousted Ecuador’s Maria Borja, the no.15 seed (8-11, 11-4, 11-1, 11-6) and Peru’s Ana Aragon, the no.10 seed (11-6, 11-7, 11-7) to reserve her place in the final.

“I practised hard for this South American tournament. Now I am very happy with my results. I think I played well; my thanks to my coaches, friends and my family. I will continue to train hard to achieve my goals.” Guilia Takahashi

Progress to the title decider as anticipated for Giulia Takahashi; it was the same for Laura Watanabe. In the round of the last eight she beat Chile’s Fernanda Araneda, the no.14 seed (11-9, 11-5, 11-4), prior to recording a penultimate round success in opposition to Argentina’s Divina Ding, a player with no current world ranking (4-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4).

Gold for Brazil, gold for the favourite; in the cadet boys’ singles event it was the same colour medal for Brazil but for a rank outsider. Luigi Yamane, the no.15 seed, emerged the surprise winner. He secured the title in a titanic contest; he recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat colleague, Shim Joon, the no.7 seed, by the very narrowest of deciding game margins (8-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 15-13).

“I’m very happy to be the champion. It was difficult to play against my colleague in the final. In Brazil we have played each other many times, we know how to play against each other. I kept calm and focused on each point. I am happy with the results obtained by Brazil.” Luigi Yamane

A hard fought final, the semi-final was no different, after accounting for Colombia’s Felipe Fajardo (11-8, 11-9, 12-10), Luigi Yamane needed the full five games to beat colleague Henrique Noguti, the no.2 seed (11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8).

Meanwhile, in the adjacent half of the draw, Shim Joon caused a major quarter-final upset by beating Peru’s Carlos Fernandez, the top seed (11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7), before ousting Argentina’s Tomas Sanchi, the no.3 seed (14-12, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9) to reach the final.

The 2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships concluded, attention in Santiago now turns to the ITTF World Junior Circuit; the 2019 Chile Junior and Cadet Open commences on Wednesday 20th March.

The concluding day of play at the 2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships

Schedule

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: General Schedule (Thursday 14th March)

Entries

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Entries (Thursday 14th March)

Seeding – Team Events

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Team Seeding (Thursday 14th March)

Seeding – Junior Boys Singles & Junior Girls’ Singles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Junior Boys’ Singles (Thursday 14th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Junior Girls’ Singles (Thursday 14th March)

Seeding – Junior Boys Doubles, Junior Girls’ Doubles & Junior Mixed Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Junior Boys’ Doubles (Thursday 14th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Junior Girls’ Doubles (Thursday 14th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Junior Mixed Doubles (Thursday 14th March)

Seeding – Cadet Boys Singles & Cadet Girls’ Singles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Cadet Boys’ Singles (Thursday 14th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Cadet Girls’ Singles (Thursday 14th March)

Seeding – Cadet Boys Doubles, Cadet Girls’ Doubles & Cadet Mixed Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Cadet Boys’ Doubles (Thursday 14th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Cadet Girls’ Doubles (Thursday 14th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Seeding – Cadet Mixed Doubles (Thursday 14th March)

Junior Boys’ Team

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Final Positions – Junior Boys’ Team (Friday 15th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Detailed Results – Junior Boys’ Team (Friday 15th March)

Junior Girls’ Team

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Final Positions – Junior Girls’ Team (Friday 15th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Detailed Results – Junior Girls’ Team (Friday 15th March)

Cadet Boys’ Team

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Final Positions – Cadet Boys’ Team (Friday 15th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Detailed Results – Cadet Boys’ Team (Friday 15th March)

Cadet Girls’ Team

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Final Positions – Cadet Girls’ Team (Friday 15th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Detailed Results – Cadet Girls’ Team (Friday 15th March)

Junior Boys’ Singles & Junior Boys’ Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Junior Boys’ Singles – First Stage – Results (Saturday 16th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Junior Boys’ Singles – Main Draw (Monday 18th March)

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Junior Boys’ Doubles – Main Draw (Sunday 17th March)

Junior Girls’ Singles & Junior Girls’ Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Junior Girls’ Singles – First Stage – Results (Saturday 16th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Junior Girls’ Singles – Main Draw (Monday 18th March)

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Junior Girls’ Doubles – Main Draw (Sunday 17th March)

Junior Mixed Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Junior Mixed Doubles – Main Draw (Sunday 17th March)

Cadet Boys’ Singles & Cadet Boys’ Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Cadet Boys’ Singles – First Stage – Results (Saturday 16th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Cadet Boys’ Singles – Main Draw (Monday 18th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Cadet Girls’ Doubles – Main Draw (Sunday 17th March)

Cadet Girls’ Singles & Cadet Girls’ Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Cadet Girls’ Singles – First Stage – Results (Saturday 16th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Cadet Girls’ Singles – Main Draw (Monday 18th March)
2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Cadet Girls’ Doubles – Main Draw (Sunday 17th March)

Cadet Mixed Doubles

2019 South American Junior and Cadet Championships: Cadet Mixed Doubles – Main Draw (Sunday 17th March)