Canada will represent the continent in 2018 Thomas & Uber Cup after winning the II Male & Female Pan Am Team Continental Championships 2018.
Bangkok, Thailand, will host the next TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2018, which will take place from May 20 to 27.
Denmark (the defending champion), Thailand, Australia, Indonesia, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Algeria, England, Germany, France, Russia, Chinese Taipei, Japan, India, and now, Canada, will dispute the Thomas Cup. While China (the last champion), Thailand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Maurituis, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Spain, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong will compete, with Canada, for the Uber Cup.
Canada on the way to Bangkok
The Canadian men’s team, conformed by Jason Ho-Shue, Brian Yang, Nyl Yakura, Austin Bauer, Paul-Antonie Dostie-Gundon, Jonathan Lai, Ty Lindeman and Duncan Yao, won the gold medal at Pan Am Team 2018 after overcoming Peru and Barbados by 5 to 0, to each, in the group stage. In Semifinals, they faced a difficult Jamaica team, winning the series by 3 to 1 and, finally, they beat USA by 3 to 0.
Jason Ho-Shue led each of the team’s victories, since he played all the series and won all the games he played, both singles and doubles, along with Nyl Yakura.
In the ladies’ competition, the Canadian team was overwhelming in every match. They started the competition against the Dominican Republic, winning by WO. Then they faced Peru to define the first place in Group B, winning by 5 to 0. In the Semifinals, Canada clearly beat Guatemala (3-0) and, in Finals, United States could not stop the good Canadian game and lost 0 – 3.
Brittney Tam was the most outstanding of the women’s team, since she played in all 3 clashes and won each of her matches. Michelle Li and Talia Ng also remained unbeaten in the tournament and contributed to Canada’s great performance. Stepanhie Pakenham Catherine Choi, Anne-Julie Beaulieu, Michelle Tong y Josephine Wu complete the team.
Canada returns to Thomas Cup after 5 editions (2008), competition in which they ranked seventh. While the last participation of Canada in Uber Cup was in 2014 where they was fifteenth.
Mexico and United States were the last Pan Am representatives in Thomas and Uber Cup respectively, now it is the turn of a prominent Canadian team that will look for the best results in the competition.
Photo Credit: Dennis Allen (TTgameplan)
