PAN AM CHAMPS 2010 – Li leads Canada to Team Gold

18-year-old Michelle Li (pictured) was one of the winners who led Canada to the gold medal of the 2010 Pan American Badminton Championships in Curitiba, Brazil.  The Canadians beat USA 3-1 in the final while Peru took bronze over Mexico.

Raphael Sachetat (with PR of USA Badminton).  Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

There was obviously new blood from all sides in this XVIth edition of the team competition of the Pan Am Badminton Championships, held this week in Brazil. The women’s singles match of the team final was a clear symbol of that: instead of Anna Rice or Charmaine Reid playing for Canada, it was a new jewel, Michelle Li, who stood up as “first lady” for the Canadians not two weeks shy of her nineteenth birthday, while on the other side of the net, was the even younger Cee Nantana Ketpura. Li took the best out of her opponent and put Canada in a crucial lead 2-1 after USA’s Sattawat had put USA back in the tie with his win over Stefan Wojcikiewicz.

The win definitely fell into Canada’s basket when the pair of Vincent Nguy and Sameera Gunatileka, representing Team USA in men’s doubles, fell to Canada’s Adrian Liu and Derrick Ng in straight games (18-21 and 14-21). Canada had beaten the USA in the group stage earlier 4-1, but this time, the 3-1 mark was enough to bag them the gold.

Team semi-final action was contested Wednesday morning prior to the finals.  Team USA defeated Team Peru three matches to one.  Ketpura defeated Christina Aicardia two games to none (21-17 and 21-11) in women’s singles.  Nguy and Gunatileka defeated Bruno Monterverde and Mario Cuba in men’s doubles by the score of two games to none (21-13 and 21-18).  In women’s doubles Iris Wang teamed with her sister Rena Wang to defeat Peru’s Claudia Rivero and Christina Aicardia two games to one (21-12, 23-25 and 21-7).  The only blemish was a men’s singles two games to none loss by Pongnairat to Rodrigo Pacheco in men’s singles (11-21 and 12-21).

Peru, however, bagged bronze in the bronze medal final against Mexico, thanks to Rodrigo Pacheco who put his team-mates in the right track with a 21-18 win in the deciding game of the first match of the tie.  Peru won 3-1 over Mexico.

The individual event are still going on with Canada hoping for another set of medals with no fewer than 4 gold medals at stake – amongst which 2 are already won with an all-Canadian finals scheduled for Sunday afternoon in women’s and mixed doubles.

Final results(in order of play)
Canada beat USA : 3-1

MX: Toby Ng and Grace Gao beat Iris Wang and Nicholas Jinadasa (USA): 17-21,12-21
MS : Sattawat Pongnairat ( USA) beat Stephan Wojcikiewicz (CAN): 18-21, 21-13, 21-18
WS: Michelle Li (CAN) beat Cee Ketpura (USA): 21-15, 21-17
MD: Adrian Liu and Derrick Ng (CAN) beat Vincent Nguy and Sameera Gunatileka (USA): 21-18, 21-14

Team results HERE

Individual results HERE