National table tennis teams enter the final stretch in search of tickets to Paris 2024

This Sunday, the women’s National Table Tennis Team will look for one of the two tickets available for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Pan American Table Tennis Championships, which take place in Havana, Cuba.

The group is made up of the island’s number racket, Adriana Diaz, as well as Melanie Diaz, Fabiola Diaz and Brianna Burgos. Adriana, Melanie and Burgos, together with Alondra Rodriguez, won the silver medal at the last Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador 2023.

By closing the group stage in first position after defeating Guatemala 3-1 (3-0, 3-0, 0-3 and 3-2) and Argentina 3-1 (3-0, 1-3, 3- 0 and 3-0), and beating Cuba in the quarterfinals in three sets (0-3, 1-3 and 1-3), the Puerto Rican team finished among the best four of the tournament.

As a result, Puerto Rico will have to face Brazil, Chile and the United States in a round robin, who also finished in first place in their respective groups in the first stage of the competition. The best two teams will qualify for the Olympic Games.

In the first match of this phase, the Puerto Ricans had only faced the Brazilians with whom they lost 3-1 (3-2, 3-0, 1-3 and 3-1) in the first round-robin duel.

At the time of this writing, I do not know the exact times of Sunday’s matches against the Chileans and the Americans, respectively.

Men beat Argentina

On the other hand, the men’s team will face Brazil, Canada and Chile in the “round robin” by defeating Argentina 3-2 (2-3, 3-0, 0-3, 3-0 and 3-2) in the quarter finals.

The Puerto Rican team, likewise, will have the opportunity on Sunday to fight for one of the two passes for Paris 2024.

The men’s team, made up of Brian Afanador, Daniel Gonzalez, Angel Naranjo and Oscar Birriel, closed their group stage with a 1-1 record.

Against Barbados, the Puerto Ricans won 3-0 (3-0, 3-0 and 3-0). Meanwhile, against the Cubans they fell 3-1 (3-0, 0-3, 3-1 and 3-2).

This quartet won the gold medal in the last edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games in June.

The Pan American Table Tennis Championship is for Puerto Ricans – women and men – the only turn to qualify for the sport’s highest stage.