Havana will host the best table tennis in America
HAVANA, Sept. 4. The most outstanding exponents in the continent will enter into action from next September 10 to 17, at Expocuba, on the occasion of the V ChampionshipPan American Table Tennis-2023, an Olympic and world qualifying event.
The 60 best players in the Americas of both sexes will meet in the Cuban capital in search of team tickets to the Paris-2024 Olympic Games, and six individuals will head to the world event in South Korea, also in the year next.
In statements to Jit, Bárbaro Oliva, president of the Cuban Federation and national commissioner of this sport, stated that “it will be a model of what will happen at the Santiago-2023 Pan American Games. Five weeks before, it will be extremely important for our athletes.
Players from 18 countries will be present at the event, including powerhouses like the United States and Canada, as well as Brazil and Argentina. The first three have already secured Olympic places, but they come looking for more.
Oliva indicated that 16 male and 15 female teams will fight for the Olympic spaces, while the first six players of each gender will qualify for the Busan World Cup in 2024.
Individually, the presence of the Brazilian Hugo Calderano stands out, fifth in the world ranking and leader in the American continent.
The Cuban team will have few options to qualify for Paris-2024 in this tournament, but they are highly motivated, and eager to compete, despite how difficult it will be.
There are other tournaments for the mixed duo of Daniela Fonseca and Moisés Campos to qualify for Paris-2024, as they did for Tokyo 2020.
The Cuban team will also be made up of veteran Andy Pereira, along with youngsters Adrián Pérez, Eday Gómez, Estela Crespo, Lisdaine Rodríguez and Rosalba Aguiar.
Cuba won the table tennis of the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador-2023, with the gold medal of Andy Pereira in the individual event, the women’s team and the men’s doubles. Additionally, they won two silver medals and a pair of bronzes.
