Major titles of South American Junior and Cadet Championship won by Brazilian squad - Table Tennis
The South American Junior and Cadet Championship was held in the Colombian city of Envigado during the last week of April. According to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) press release on May 3, 2011, the Brazilian team emerged as the most
successful team in the championship. The event featured ten countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The Brazilian team won a total of nine titles out of the 14 championships. The most prominent players from the Brazilian squad were 17-year-old Eric Jouti who celebrated his birthday during the championship and 15-year-old Caroline Kumahara.
Both players are natives of São Paulo, Brazil. They were on duty at the Youth Olympic Games 2010 held in Singapore. Eric Jouti won the Boys Junior Singles title where as the Junior Girls Title was won by Caroline Kumahara. They also played an important part
in winning the team events of the championship.
Eric Jouti defeated Juan Daher from Argentina in the final hurdle of the Junior Boy’s Singles. Caroline Kumahara won against compatriot, Katia Kawai, in the Junior Girls Singles. In the Boys team events Eric joined forces with Jeff Yamada, Victor Ishy and Raphael
Almeida and won the title. Caroline teamed-up with Katia Kawai, Priscilla Dias and Priscilla Salvador and won the Junior Girls team title.
Caroline Kumahara moved a step ahead and won the Junior Girls doubles title along with Katia Kawai. The Brazilian duo won after eclipsing Valentina Lertora and Maria Soto from Peru.
There was a hat-trick in the Cadet Girls category for Genifer Zhao from Brazil. Genifer won the Cadet Singles title against Francesca Vargas from Peru. In the cadet doubles she paired up with Thathiane Pimentel to clinch the title. In the Cadet Girls Team
event she joined forces with Caroline Kagohara, Tathiane Pimentel and Lais Toma to win that title.
The only three titles the Brazilian team were not able to win were the Cadet Boys titles, Junior Mixed Doubles and the Cadet Mixed Doubles.
Fermin Tenti from Argentina was the only player who levelled matters with Genifer Zhao on the medal table. He won the Cadet Boys title by defeating Hugo Calderano from Brazil. In the Cadet Boys Doubles he partnered with Diego Teplitzky to win the title against
Sebastian Aguirre and Alejandro Toranzos from Paraguay. He along with his compatriots Diego Teplitzky, Joaquim Kanashiro and Horacio Cifuentes won the Cadet Boys’ Team title.
In the Junior Mixed Doubles, Nicolas Martinez and Carolina Pena from Colombia defeated their own team-mates Joaquim Villegas and Maria Castillo. The Cadet Doubles title was won by players from Peru, Daniel Chang and Francesca Vargas. The Peruvians defeated
the Brazilian Massao Kohatsu and Caroline Kagohara in the finals to take home the title.
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