2021 Pan Am Junior Games
Medals for Jayden, Sid, Sarah, and Yishiuan!
-By Samson Dubina
Over 3000 Athletes from dozens different sports traveled to Cali, Colombia to compete in the first-ever Pan Am Junior Games! These athletes ages 21 and under were the select few from each country that qualified for their sport. There were 126 US athletes and four US athletes representing table tennis including – Jayden Zhou, Sid Naresh, Sarah Jalli, and Yishiuan Lin coached by Coach Cory Eider, Coach Samson Dubina, and team leader Daniel Rutenberg. Daniel did much planning and organizing for the trip including flights, accommodations, team meetings, covid protocols, and much much more! We are very thankful to him for his great support of our athletes!
There were seven events over the course of the six-day tournament including men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, men’s teams and women’s teams.
The most significant team match for Sid and Jayden was against Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals. After dropping the first 2 matches, Puerto Rico was only one match away from a medal. However, Jayden and Sid played fabulous to sweep the doubles 3-0 followed by Jayden beating the Angel Naranjo 3-0. For the fifth and final match, it was Sid Naresh against Derek Valentine. Down 2-1, Sid fought back to tie it 2-2. A rough start saw Sid down 6-2 in the fifth. With some great tactical plays, Sid overcame to 6-2 deficit to charge back to a 11-9 victory for team USA. Great job Sid and Jayden and Coach Cory.
The most significant doubles match for Yishiuan and Sarah was against Venezuela in the quarterfinals. Up 2-1 in games and down 10-7, the US team looked like they were going to the fifth. Then at 10-8, sometime amazing happened. Yishiuan was given tactical advice to push wide to the backhand. And she did! Two edges in a row short off the backhand side! What precision! Team USA went on to win the next two points and advance to the medal round! Great job Yishiuan and Sarah!
Jayden Zhou
-Men’s Team Semifinalist
-Mixed Doubles Quarterfinalist
-Men’s Doubles top 16
Sid Naresh
-Men’s Team Semifinalist
-Men’s Doubles top 16
Sarah Jalli
-Women’s Doubles Semifinalist
-Women’s Singles Quarterfinalist
-Women’s Team Quarterfinalist
-Mixed Doubles Quarterfinalist
Yishiuan Lin
-Women’s Doubles Semifinalist
-Women’s Team Quarterfinalist
Overall, it was a great performance against the best under 21 year olds in the western world. Sid (17), Jayden (16), Sarah (15), and Yishiuan (13) have gained much valuable international experience and I’m sure that the lessons they learned here in Cali, Colombia will fuel their motivation to continue training harder and more focused than ever before! We would like to send a special thank you to the team sponsors Butterfly and Nike and USATT and a special thank you to the USOPC and the amazing hospitality that we had for the entire duration of our trip!
Thanks and we’ll be back!