|
Men Tie for Bronze at 2007 Pan American Games
By Lindsay DeWall // U.S. Olympic Committee // July 25, 2007
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – In one of the longest table tennis team matches in Pan American Games history, the U.S. men suffered a heartbreaking loss to Argentina in Tuesday’s semifinals in Pavilion 4B of the Riocentro Convention Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After five individual matches and nearly three hours of play, Argentina secured the victory and moved on to the gold medal match against Brazil. The U.S. automatically tied for the Pan American bronze medal with Canada, which lost to Brazil earlier in the day.
In the team competition, each player on the three-member team plays twice, split between four singles matches and one doubles match. Each match consists of five games, which go to 11 points.
The competition was close right off the bat, with Eric Owens (Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.) taking on Argentina’s Pablo Tabachnik in the first match. It came down to the wire, going into extra points in the fifth game, but Owens succumbed two games to three (15-13, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 12-14).
“I should have won my match,” Owens said. “I’m kind of putting the loss on my match. It should have never gone to five (matches). I had four or five different ways I could have won, but it never seemed to go my way. I had openings, but I couldn’t close it.”
Mark Hazinski (Mishawaka, Ind.) was up next, losing to Song Liu zero games to three (7-11, 7-11, 7-11).
Despite being down 2-0, the U.S. Team fought back hard. The doubles match featured Owens and Han Xiao (Germantown, Md.) against Tabachnik and Gaston Alto. The U.S. men seized the opportunity, clinching their first match by pulling out the victory in the fifth (11-13, 11-5, 12-10, 5-11, 11-5). Hazinski was up once again, this time against Alto. He won in four games (11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-5), evening the score with Argentina 2-2.
Xiao battled Liu in the final match. Though Xiao won the first game in extra points, he lost one game to three (14-12, 10-12, 14-16, 6-11). Argentina beat the U.S. 3-2.
In winning the bronze, the U.S. men’s table tennis team has secured a medal in the last five Pan American Games in which the team competition was held: (2007 bronze, 2003 no team competition, 1999 gold, 1995 silver, 1991 silver, 1987 silver).
“I’m happy we got a medal, but a little disappointed because we were so close to getting gold or silver,” Hazinski said. “All the matches today were very close. Our teams (the U.S. and Argentina) are evenly matched. It came down to the end, and unfortunately we lost. I’m bummed it’s not gold or silver, but I’m still definitely pumped to have won my first Pan American medal.”
The table tennis competition continues Wednesday with the first round of the singles tournament.
|
