Uriel Canjura, an athlete from the Effort and Glory Program, won 21-16 and 21-12 against the American Howard Shu and secured his qualification for the semifinals at the XXVII Yonex Pan Am Individual Championships Guatemala 2024.
In the semis, Canjura will face the Canadian Brian Yang, champion at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games and an already known rival for the greatest figure of Salvadoran badminton.
By reaching this stage, the Salvadoran badminton player is not only one step away from fighting for the tournament title but also secured important points to maintain or improve the 28th position in the Olympic ranking and remain on the list of athletes with the possibility of achieving place to Paris 2024.
Canjura had a good start to the match and gained a 4-1 lead, but the American gained confidence and closed the gap to 6-7.
The Salvadoran maintained the advantage between two and four points, which was key to taking the lead 21-16 against an opponent who closed with several forced errors.
Uriel also managed to return some shots that the North American already counted as points.
In the second set, Canjura, originally from Suchitoto, maintained precision in his shots and forced several errors from the North American who was always down on the scoreboard with a difference of up to five points.
This time, Uriel managed to impose a 11-7 score that later changed to 17-9 and settled the match with a 21-12 score.
In his attempt to reverse the score, Howard Shu crashed the shuttlecock into the net several times at key points in the game and his defeat in two sets was inevitable.
In the quarterfinals, the Salvadoran badminton player won 21-17 and 21-15 against Peruvian Adriano Valle in a match in which his strategy worked and he solved the match without much drama.
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