Yesterday the team semifinals of the 2024 Central American Senior Table Tennis Championship were played, in which the El Salvador men’s team was eliminated after losing to Costa Rica with a score of 1-3.
With that result, El Salvador secured the bronze medal by placing itself in third place thanks to the fact that in the group stage it defeated Belize 3-0. The other bronze was in the hands of the Guatemalan team.
Our country was represented by athletes Edgardo Sánchez, Jaime Galeano, Enzo Leiva and Melvin Muñoz; the latter, beneficiary of our Effort and Glory Program. The Ticos selected were Daniel Araya, Jeison Martínez, Alejandro Montoya and Gabriel Chávez.
The match, which took place at the El Polvorín Sports Complex, started in a great way for our team with a tight victory by Edgardo Sánchez over Jeison Martínez with a score of 3-2 (9, -6, 7, -6, 9 ).
The second match faced the Salvadoran Jaime Galeano and the Costa Rican Daniel Araya, who took the victory with a score of 3-1 (9, 7, -4, 7).
In a thrilling third match, the national Enzo Leiva let a two-set lead slip away after being overcome by Alejandro Montoya, thus giving Costa Rica the second point of the series. Araya beat Leiva 3-2 (-9, -3, 5, 6, 4).
In the last meeting, both coaches decided to repeat players. Edgardo Sánchez played for El Salvador and Daniel Araya played for Costa Rica, who won an outstanding victory over our compatriot 3-0 (11, 7, 1).
Edgardo Sánchez explained that this game left good feelings in the national team. “Despite the defeat we obtained third place. However, our performance leaves good feelings to be able to follow the competition in the best way and to be able to give better results in the other modalities,” he said.
For his part, Costa Rican Araya did not hide his happiness when he qualified for the final. “After hard work, the results come. We faced great opponents like Honduras, Guatemala and, now, El Salvador and now we are in the final, thank God.”
In the other semifinal, Mexico eliminated Guatemala after beating them 3-2. In the first game, the Chapín team would take the point, after Sergio Carrillo beat Darío Arce 3-1 (-9, 7, 10 and 8).
Subsequently, Mexico won the second match 3-1 and in the third match Guatemala once again took the lead in the series (2-1) taking the third match with a score of 3-1.
The Mexican team tied the fourth match with a 3-1 victory, thus leaving a spectacular last game to meet the new finalist.
Allan Gutiérrez, from Guatemala, and Darío Arce, from Mexico, decided the last ticket to the final. The match ended in favor of the Mexicans 3-1 (15, 8, -8, 7).
At 5 p.m. the grand final for men’s teams will be held between Mexico and Costa Rica.
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