U.S. Para Team Takes Home 15 Medals from Cancun, Mexico
by Joshua Dyke
The USA Table Tennis Para National Team along with U.S. Para Team players visited Cancun, Mexico, to compete in the Copa Cristina Hoffmann 2022 earlier this month.
Seventeen U.S. athletes and four coaches journeyed to Cancun, Mexico, to participate in the international event.
The elite group racked up fifteen medals throughout the three-day tournament – 5 gold medals, 6 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals.
Jenson Van Emburgh led the maximum efforts of the large player group with three gold medals in three event categories: Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.
“Mexico Open was a great success for our team. I am really happy that our developmental players got the chance to showcase their improved skills and bring home some medals. For our more experienced players it was just great to be out there competing one more time before the World Championships which will take place in November as well as next year’s Para Pan-American Games.” – Para National Team Coach Vlad Farcas.
The trip was an overall group effort for the medal success by all the athletes who made the trip:
Samuel ALTSHULER
Gabriel DIAZ DE LEON
Pamela FONTAINE
Tahl LEIBOVITZ
Marco MAKKAR
Randall MEDCALF
Masoud MOJTAHED
Zachary Alan PICKETT
Tara PROFITT
Cynthia RANII
Valerie ROLPH
Ahad SARAND
Daniel SCRIVANO
James SEGREST
Jenson VAN EMBURGH
Mathew WEBER
Zachary WENTZ – DNP
Coaches for Mexico Trip were Mitchell Seidenfeld – Head Coach, Keith Evans, Gary Fraiman, and Vlad Farcas.
Medals – Copa Cristina Hoffmann 2022 – Cancun Mexico
SINGLES – GOLD
Jenson Van Emburgh
Men’s Singles Classes 2-3
Ahad Sarand
Men’s Singles Class 5
Tahl Leibovitz
Men’s Singles Class 9
SINGLES – SILVER
Pamala Fontaine
Women’s Singles Classes 2-3
Valerie Rolph
Women’s Singles Classes 4-5
Samuel Altshuler
Men’s Singles Classes 6
SINGLES – BRONZE
Zachary Allen Pickett
Men’s Singles Class 4
Masoud Mojtahed
Men’s Singles Class 7
Randall Medcalf
Men’s Singles Class 10
DOUBLES – GOLD
Jenson Van Emburgh and Ahad Bakhshaei Sarand
Men’s Doubles Classes MD8
Jenson Van Emburgh and Pamela Fontaine
Mixed Doubles Class XD7
DOUBLES – SILVER
Tara Profitt and Pamela Fontaine
Women's Doubles Class WD15
Tahl Leibovitz and Marco Makkar
Men’s Doubles Classes MD18
Ahad Sarand and Tara Profitt
Mixed Doubles Class XD7
DOUBLES – BRONZE
Matt Weber and Masoud Mojtahed
Men’s Doubles Classes MD14
The next major event for Para athletes will be the U.S. National Table Tennis Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, July 2 – 7, 2022.