Thursday, November 16th, 2023.- The Parapan American Games started on Thursday morning with para table tennis, held at the Centro de Entrenamiento Olímpico, CEO, located in the Ñuñoa commune.

At 10:00 a.m. local time, on eight tables, athletes started the first day's matches. In table 1, two victories for Brazil, a successful debut for the local delegation, as well as victories for the North American delegations, Canada and the United States, stood out.

Table 1 Results:

Male's Singles Class 10 Group A
Manuel Echaveguren (Chile) 3-0 José Vargas (Costa Rica)

Male's Singles Class 7 Group A
Israel Pereira (Brazil) 3-1 Luciano Khazandjian (Argentina)

Male's Singles Class 7 Group C
Ángel Castro (Mexico) 3-0 Julio Evans (Panama)

Male's Singles Class 8 Group C
James Kent (Canada) 1-3 Jean Carlos de Souza (Brazil)

Male's Singles Class 9 Group C
Logan Watson (USA) 3-0 Diego Sarmiento (Ecuador)


The Brazilian strength continued on table 2, with four out of five possible wins in the morning block. Meanwhile, the United States collected their second victory of the day.

-Table 2:

Male's Singles Class 10 Group B
Claudio Massad (Brazil) 3-0 José Mora (El Salvador)

Male's Singles Class 7 Group B
Paulo Salmin (Brazil) 3-0 Miguel Castro (Colombia)

Male's Singles Class 8 Group A
Luis Guarnieri (Brazil) 3-0 Javier Córdova (El Salvador)

Male's Singles Class 9 Group A
Tahl Leibovitz (USA) 3-0 Nixon Reyes (Costa Rica)

Female's Singles Classes 9-10 Group A
Danielle Rauen (Brazil) 3-0 Jeanelly Góngora (Mexico)

Three more wins for Brazilian athletes were registered on table 3. Victories were also celebrated by the delegations of Argentina and Costa Rica.

-Table 3:

Male's Singles Class 10 Group C
Gabriel de Oliveira (Brazil) 3-0 Marcos Orellana (Guatemala)

Male's Singles Class 7 Group B
Alesky Kaniuka (Argentina) 3-0 Francisco Córdoba (Panama)

Male's Singles Class 10 Group A
Steven Román (Costa Rica) 3-0 Enrique Preza (Mexico)

Male's Singles Class 9 Group B
Lucas dos Santos (Brazil) 3-0 Jeriel López (Puerto Rico)

Female's Singles Classes 9-10 Group B
Jennyfer Marques (Brazil) 3-1 Allana Maschio (Brazil)

On table 4, Colombia celebrated two victories. Argentina and Puerto Rico also secured wins, as did the host team.

-Table 4

Male's Singles Class 10 Group D
Álvaro Puerto (Colombia) 3-0 Gibran Sarfaraz (Guyana)

Male's Singles Class 7 Group C
José Vargas (Colombia) 3-1 Emanuel Martínez (Argentina)

Male's Singles Class 8 Group C
Alejandro Pérez (Argentina) 3-1 Marco Makkar (United States)

Male's Singles Class 9 Group C
Asad Syed (Peru) 2-3 Shaquille Rivera (Puerto Rico)

Female's Singles Classes 9-10 Group B
Yessica Alzate (Colombia) 0-3 Ailyn Espinoza (Chile)

Regarding table 5, the Chilean team secured another victory. Brazil continued to showcase its dominance with two more wins, while Argentina and Mexico also secured victories.

-Table 5

Male's Singles Class 4 Group A
Cristián González (Chile) 3-0 Noel Sandoval (Venezuela)

Male's Singles Class 5 Group A
Elías Romero (Argentina) 3-0 Gerber Salazar (Guatemala)

Female's Singles Classes 1-3 Group A
Joyce de Oliveira (Brazil) 3-0 Verónica Blanco (Argentina)

Female's Singles Classes 1-3 Group D
María Sigala (Mexico) 3-0 Evelyn García (Venezuela)

Male's Singles Class 3 Group C
David Andrade (Brazil) 3-1 Carlos Bienati (Argentina)

The Brazilian para athletes faced challenging matches on Table 6, winning against Canada but losing to Cuba. Mexico defeated Chile, the United States overcame Colombia, and Cuba was defeated by Uruguay.

-Table 6

Male's Singles Class 4 Group B
Eziquel Babes (Brazil) 3-2 Muhammad Mudassar (Canada)

Female's Singles Class 4 Group A
Martha Verdín (Mexico) 3-0 Almendra Ortiz (Chile)

Female's Singles Classes 1-3 Group B
Catia da Silva (Brazil) 2-3 Yanelis Silva (Cuba)

Male's Singles Class 3 Group A
Jenson van Emburgh (United States) 3-0 Edwin Sánchez (Colombia)

Male's Singles Class 3 Group C
Gonzalo Acosta (Uruguay) 3-1 Osviel Nodarse (Cuba)

Two new victories for Chile emerged on Table 7, confirming the host country's good moment in the discipline. Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico earned points by winning their respective matches.

-Table 7

Male's Singles Class 4 Group C
Maximiliano Rodríguez (Chile) 3-0 Sebastián Chaves (Costa Rica)

Female's Singles Classes 4-5 Group B
Tamara Leonelli (Chile) 3-0 Josselyn Miranda (El Salvador)

Female's Singles Classes 1-5 Group C
Marliane Amaral (Brazil) 3-0 Carla Maia Limp (Brazil)

Male's Singles Class 3 Group B
Gabriel Cópola (Argentina) 3-0 Luis Valencia (Colombia)

Male's Singles Class 10 Group A
Víctor Reyes (Mexico) 3-1 Peter Isherwood (Canada)

Regarding Table 8, Brazil secured two wins and one loss, while Argentina and Venezuela had positive results by defeating the United States and Guatemala, respectively.

-Table 8

Male's Singles Class 5 Group B
Lucas Carvalhal (Brazil) 3-0 Mauro Depérgola (Argentina)

Female's Singles Classes 4-5 Group B
Nayla Kuell (Argentina) 3-0 Valerie Rolph (United States)

Female's Singles Classes 1-3 Group D
Tahis Fraga (Brazil) 3-0 Fiorella Padilla (Costa Rica)

Male's Singles Class 3 Group B
Roberto Quijada (Venezuela) 3-0 Pedro Avendaño (Guatemala)

Male's Singles Class 2 Group A
Iranildo Espíndola (Brazil) 2-3 Guilherme Marciao (Brazil)


Written by Marcelo González; translated by Vicente Valdivia / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Javier Salvo / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport