Canada won the Male and Female competitions at the Pan Am M&F Cup 2024, team event held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from February 15 to 18.
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Team Canada qualified for the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 after reaching the gold medals in the Male Competition and the Female Competition of the Pan Am M&F Cup 2024. Both teams got the victories during the finals and lifted the champions cup.
Defending the title
The Male Team from Canada started the competition as seeded 1, leading Group A as defending champions, and got victories against Peru (5-0), Guatemala (5-0) and El Salvador (5-0) to reach semifinals and faced Mexico. After a 3-0 victory, Canada faced Brazil in the final, same final than last edition, and defeated the local team 3-0 during a really exciting tie.
“It’s exciting to play at a team event. I have been part of the team for many years so it is nice to see next generation coming up, help the team and contribute with a win to get the trophy back” said Nyl Yakura after the championships reached with a victory of him, along with Adam Dong, in the last match.
Brazil team got the silver medal after a great championships with victories against Paraguay (5-0), Mexico (4-1) and United States of America (5-0) in group stage, and against Guatemala (WO) in Semifinals. Mexico male team reached the bronze medal after a great tournament.
“We feel happy, the whole team made a great effort. We came looking for a higher podium but we are also satisfied because everyone gave their maximum effort in each match, so we leave happy with third place. This tournament was very important because it gives us points for Olympic Qualification and good experience for the team.” said Job Castillo, experienced player from Mexico.
Canadian Female Team led the group B as seeded 2 for the Group Stage and defeated Brazil (5-0) and El Salvador (5-0) to reach semifinals and defeat Peru (3-0). In the final, they faced United States and got the victory (3-0) in tough matches.
Wen Yu Zhang, who played the first match of the Final Tie said “It’s very great to be playing here in Brazil, I am very happy that we achieved the gold. We are aiming to go to China for the Uber Cup on May this year and I am very happy that we did it.”
United States Team could not defend the title achieved in the last edition but they achieved a very important silver medal for their country.
Brazil also got a bronze medal in the Female event after a good perfomance showed during the competition. They managed to defeat El Salvador (5-0) and Peru (3-0) to the reach a place in the podium.
The Medals Ceremony also had special recognitions given by Mr. Armando Bruni, BPAC president, Mr. Javier Orozco, BPAC Vice president and Mr. Roberto Santini, BPAC vice president.
Thanks to the Referee team, Umpires Assesor and all the Technical Officials for their commitment during the competition.
Thanks to the Local Organizing Committee and CBBd Staff for their hard work during these days.
Thanks YONEX Co. for the support and confidence in all Pan Am Championships.
Thanks to all participants players and Member Associations, hope to see you playing in our next YONEX Pan Am Individual Championships 2024.
Photo Credit: Marcello Zambrana
