Sunday, November 5th, 2023.- The United States confirmed its supremacy in table tennis by winning the female's team final against Puerto Rico. One of the athletes from the winning team, Amy Wang, talked about the gold medal and the upcoming group-level challenge.

"We are very happy to win the gold medal because we lost in the previous Pan American Games. Last month, or a few weeks ago, I played against Adriana (Díaz) in a championship, so I knew her techniques, and how she plays. She is definitely better than me and is in a higher ranking position, so I wasn't a pressure for her," she said.

Puerto Rican Adriana Díaz, who won the silver medal in the team event, talked about the intensity of the competition and praised the level displayed by her team: "I've had very long days here, it has been days of expending a lot of energy. I played many matches, many sets. The truth is that I was trying to finish the matches faster, but by the end of the day, my body made it clear to me that I was very tired."

"The Puerto Rican female's table tennis team has done an excellent job in this competition. We exceeded expectations, we didn't think we would reach the team final, it wasn't part of the plan, and beyond that, we showed that we are a family and that no matter what happens, we will always have each other," she concluded.

The bronze medalist, Brazilian Bruna Takahashi, was brief in her comments about the achievement: "I think it was a very good tournament, even though I achieved the gold, but I played at a very high level, and I hope to keep working hard to achieve it one day. We played very well in this tournament, we did what we could, and we are happy with the bronze medal."

It's worth noting that the only category with qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics is the mixed doubles, which awards two available spots to the finalist pairs of the event.

Written by Ernesto Bustos B. – Juan Caroca; translated by Pía Barriga / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Javier Vergara / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport