Uriel Canjura, athlete of the Effort and Glory Program, scored today an important victory of 21-16 and 21-15 against the Canadian and Pan American champion, Brian Yang, with which he secured his qualification for the individual final of the XXVII Yonex Pan Am Individual Championships Guatemala 2024.
Thus, the greatest figure of Salvadoran badminton will compete for the gold medal against the Guatemalan Kevin Cordón this Saturday, a performance with which he exceeded expectations and gave the surprise in the competition that closes the qualification route for the Olympic Games.
The athlete, originally from Suchitoto, also secured 5,950 points for the Olympic ranking for Paris 2024, which could be 7,000 if he becomes champion.
Uriel is located in box number 28 in the Olympic ranking with 26,779 points, a figure that will be important to remain on the list of 32 athletes with the possibility of qualifying for Paris 2024.
It was not just any triumph for Canjura. According to the records of coach René Madrid, it was the first victory for the Salvadoran against the North American, who came to the competition as one of the favorites to compete in the final, but was one step away.
Yang had beaten Canjura in the semifinals of the last Pan American Games with scores of 11-21 and 10-21, but this time he found an opponent who was more precise in his shots, with a better strategy and motivated.
The semifinal match was even until 14-14, from that moment on, the Salvadoran hit good shots and won key points to take a lead of 19-16 and finally 21-16.
Uriel also kept his courage to the maximum in the second episode in which the Canadian established a 6-10 lead that later changed to 10-14. In that stretch of the game, the Salvadoran hit shots to the edge of the rectangle and won three points in a row to tie the score at 14-14.
Brian Yang did not look confident and crashed the shuttlecock into the net several times when trying to define a decisive point. The precision and power with which Canjura returned his shots also complicated the North American, who sent several shots outside the rectangle to lose the lead 21-16 and recorded his first defeat against the Salvadoran.
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