USA Table Tennis Team Set for 2021 Junior Pan Am Games

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by Mark Thompson, COO

USA Table Tennis Team Set for 2021 Junior Pan Am Games

Two Days of Hotly Competed Matches at Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Determines Players Who Will Represent the United States in Cali, Colombia, from November 25 – December 5

(Colorado Springs, CO – May 26, 2021) – USA Table Tennis (“USATT”), the National Governing Body for the sport of table tennis, today announced the results of the 2021 Junior Pan Am Games Trials, which were held at the Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth, Texas, over the past two days. The US Team, which is comprised of two males and two females (and an alternate for each gender), will compete at the 2021 Junior Pan Am Games, which are currently scheduled to be held November 25 through December 5 in Cali, Colombia.

Sixteen-year-old, Jayden Zhou, from Far Hills, New Jersey, captured the 2021 Junior Pan Am Games Trials, which were open to all players born on or after January 1, 2000. He will be joined on the male team by the Kanak Jha, who will turn 21 years of age in June and earned the number one spot on the US Junior Pan Am Games Team by virtue of his ITTF World Ranking. Seventeen-year-old, Sid Naresh, from Lisle, Illinois, finished second in the Junior Pan Am Games Trials in Fort Worth and will serve as the alternate on the male team for the United States.

For the female team, it was nineteen-year-old, Amy Wang, from Turnersville, New Jersey, who took the top slot in the 2021 Junior Pan Am Games Trials. Fifteen-year-old, Sarah Jalli, from North Canton, Ohio, finished second. Wang and Jalli also finished one-two in the US National Team Trials which were held earlier this week at the Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth. A bright new face served noticed as thirteen-year-old Yishiuan Lin of Lexington, Massachusetts, who finished third in the Trials will serve as the alternate on the US female team.

“Making the Pan Am Junior Games team is one of the great opportunities in sports,” said Cory Eider, who coaches both Zhou and Wang at the Lily Yip Table Tennis Club in Dunellen, New Jersey. “It only comes around one time every 4 years. Both Jayden and Amy went undefeated in the trials. As their coach, I am most proud of their mental toughness throughout the trials.”

USATT once again wants to extend the organization’s sincere congratulations to everyone who played in the 2021 Junior Pan Am Games Trials, and, as always, USATT is sincerely grateful for the officials and staff who were so important in putting on this great event at the Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth.

Kanak Jha  Jayden Zhou

Amy Wang  Sarah Jalli

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