Argentina shines at Chile Open

Table tennis player Giselle Munoz did not disappoint for her country as she cruised to gold. 24 Nov 2016
Imagen
Portrait photo of woman

Argentina's Giselle Munoz

ⒸGaël Marziou
By Devon Robertson | For the IPC

Argentina’s Giselle Munoz had no trouble taking the gold medal at the 2016 Para Table Tennis (PTT) Chile Open, held 17-19 November in Santiago. The only female player at the tournament coming off of Rio 2016, Munoz won the women’s singles class 6-8 competition. Currently ranked No. 8 in class 7, the Argentinian went undefeated against her Chilean opponents and did not drop a single match.

 

Munoz helped her nation top the medals table as they took four golds at the Chile Open, the first international competition in their region since Rio 2016 and featured 48 players. Host nation Chile finished one short of Argentina with three golds.

 

Argentina’s Maria Costanza Garrone also took gold in the singles class 2-5 competition. Chile’s Tamara Monsalve was the only player to give Garrone a bit of a run, forcing five games (13-11, 3-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6) when they faced off. This was Monsalve’s first international competition since the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games, where she took singles bronze.

Argentina’s Alejandro Perez defeated the sole Canadian competitor, Curits Caron in the final of the men’s class 8 competition. The pair met in the group stage of the competition where Caron was able to take one game from Perez before falling 1-3, a result which was later repeated in the final.

Alvaro Vega gave the host nation much to cheer for when he took gold in the men’s class 9-10. Vega finished first in his group in the round robin which included a close match that went to five games against teammate Jamie Jara Hernandez. Making it to the top of the podium proved testing, as he needed all five games to beat Brazil’s Claudio Massad in the final (11-8, 3-11, 7-11, 11-9, 13-11).

Another Chilean favourite, Matias Nicolas Pino Lorca did not disappoint. The only male competitor to have competed at Rio 2016, Pino claimed class 6-7 gold by beating compatriot Osvaldo Torres. The pair went on to compete in the team event together but were unable to make it through the first round.

 

In the team competition, Argentina swept the board taking the titles in class 1-5, 6-8 and a combined team with Chile winning the class 9-10.

 

Final results from the 2016 PTT Chile Open can be found on the International Para Table Tennis website.