We are only 30 days away from the start of the Badminton competitios at the most important mega sporting event this year that will take place in our continent, the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018, and our region will have 9 representatives of the future of Pan Am Badminton.
Buenos Aires 2018 will host the Badminton competitions at the Tecnópolis Park, from October 7 to 12.
To the first 6 qualified, Brian Yang (CAN), Fernanda Saponara (PER), Fabricio Farias (BRA), Jennie Gai (USA), Alonso Medel (CHI) and Uriel Canjura (ESA), joined Nairoby Jimenez (DOM) and Jaqueline Lima (BRA) in the second update of the qualification and, finally, Mateo Delmastro (ARG) and Imani Mangroe (SUR) reached qualification in the host and universality quotas.
Let’s get to know a little about our young representatives:
Brian Yang is a Canadian promise. He currently occupies place 17 in BWF Junior Ranking, reaching location 9 in the YOG standings. Brian is the last U19 Pan-American champion and has participated in the last Pan Am Championships reaching the 2018 Thomas Cup classification. He also won the gold medal at the Canadian Junior International 2018, XI Suriname International 2017 and IV Guatemala International Junior 2017.
Fernanda Saponara (PER), 24th in BWF Junior Ranking, has participated in several scoring tournaments to reach the Olympic Games qualification as the best in the region (12th in women classification). Saponara won gold medal in Carebaco International 2017 and was runner-up in Yonex Mexican International U19 2018, Junior Argentina International 2017, Suriname International, among others. In addition, Fernanda won gold medal in Youth South American Games Santiago 2017, bronze in Pan Am Junior 2018 and participated in several tournaments in Europe achieving good results.
Fabricio Farias, a Brazilian star in place 25 in BWF Junior Ranking. Farias reached qualification (15th place) after several months of competition. Among his best results are the silver medal in team event of the Pan Am Junior 2018, and gold medal at Yonex Mexican International U19 2018 and at Argentina International 2018. Farias also participated in several tournaments in Europe such as the Yonex Dutch Junior 2018, Italian Junior 2018, Spanish Junior 2018, among others. In addition, he participated in the BWF World Junior Championships 2017 and the XXII Pan Am Individual Championships 2018.
Jennie Gai (USA) occupies the position 27 of the Ranking and achieved the qualification in place 17 thanks to her good results and the effort throughout this qualifying period, in wich she won gold medal in Yonex Mexican International U19 2018 and got important points in XXII Pan Am Individual Championships 2018, 2017 Yonex / K&D Graphics International Challenge, VIII Mexican International 2017 and XXVI Pan Am Junior Championships 2017.
Chile’s Alonso Medel is the youngest Pan Am player that will compete at Buenos Aires 2018. He is in place 41th of BWF Junior Ranking and reached the YOG qualification in 23rd position. Among the best results of Alonso are the silver medal in Argentina Junior International 2017 and the good scores reached in important tournaments such as the XXII Pan Am Individual Championships 2018, 33rd Brazil International Badminton Cup 2018, Guatemala Future Series 2017, among others.
Dominican star, Nairoby Jimenez, reachs qualification in position 24 at the second actualization of the Qualifiers Chart and she is currently 75th at BWF Junior Ranking. Nairoby has participated in several tournaments during the qualifying period, winning bronze medal in Pan Am Junior 2017, one gold and two silver in CAREBACO U19 2017, silver in CAREBACO Open 2017, 2 silver in Santo Domingo Junior and a gold in Santo Domingo Open 2017. And this year she continues to prepare with participation in various training camps and international tournaments.
Uriel Canjura from El Salvador is 37th in BWF Junior Ranking but he qualified to Youth Olympic Games 2018 in location 26. Uriel obtained important results in tournaments, being runner-up in Yonex Mexican International U19 2018, bronze in Victor Polish Junior 2018 and bronze in Guatemala International Junior 2017. He also scored important points in XXII Pan Am Individual Championships, Spanish Junior 2018, Swedish Junior 2018, among others.
Brazil’s young promise, Jaqueline Lima, has participated in high level tournaments such as the World Junior Championships 2017, Malaysia International Challenge 2017, Spanish Junior 2018, Italian Junior 2018, Dutch Junior 2018, among others, conquering some medals that contributed to her preparation and qualification to these Olympic Games in location 25. Currently, Jaqueline is ranked 48th in the BWF Junior Ranking and continues to prepare for this year’s big competitions.
Host Argentina will be represented by Mateo Delmastro, a young athlete who has been rowing hard in our sport. He has participated in several tournaments on the continent, such as the Canadian Junior 2018, Pan Am Junior 2018, Argentina International 2018 and Temuco Junior 2018, as well as training outside his country, seeking to represent his nation in the best way.
In this way, Pan Am Badminton will be well represented and we will be able to enjoy the future of the world badminton in our region.
