(by Steve Hopkins)
Without TeamUSA qualifying for the Men’s team event at the Olympics, our men were forced to compete in individual qualifiers. After proceeding through the first round of qualification, both Nikhil Kumar and Kanak Jha were allowed to compete in the ITTF Americas Olympic Qualification event in Lima, Peru. The men present were split into two groups, with the winner of each group claiming one of the four spots at the Olympics. Each player has two chances to qualify – winning one of the two events played Tuesday/Wednesday of last week, or winning on of the two events to that were played on Friday/Saturday.
In the first set of qualifiers, Nikhil Kumar was placed in Group KO1. He topped Tyrese Knight, Brian Afanador, and Albert Mino on his way to the Final where he faced Santiago Lorenzo of Argentina. Lorenzo, a 22 year old rising star, has been inconsistent in World events – but he has risen to World No. 75, and he had defeated Nicolas Burgos (World No. 54) in the Semifinals. The Final was likely decided in the first two games as Lorenzo narrowly won the first game 11-9 and then (even more narrowly) took the second game 16-14. The player traded the next two games, but Kumar was too far behind to come back. Lorenzo qualifies for the Olympics, and Nikhil Kumar starts again from scratch in the second set of qualifiers.
The other group in the first set was KO2, and it included Kanak Jha. Jha topped Diego Orants 4-0 before ousting the group’s top seed, Andy Periera of Cuba. Kanak then faced Marcelo Aguirre in the Semifinals, and fell short in a very tight and tense match. Aguirre won the first three games 11-9 for a massive lead. Kanak then won the fourth game (also 11-9). And then in a heartbreaking fifth game, Jha let a number of game points slip away as he lost the game 18-16 (and lost the match 4-1). Aguirre went on to the Final where he lost 4-3 to Marcos Madrid. Madrid qualifies for the Olympics as one of the winners.
The last chance for qualification started on Friday. Because he reached the Finals in the first round, Nikhil was the top seed in his group (KO4). He had the benefit of a BYE in the first round, and then defeated Gustavo Gomez in the Quarterfinals. Nikhil then fell 4-1 to Cuba’s Andy Periera. Pereira has moved on to the Final and he will face Alberto Mino in the last match today.
Kanak received a BYE in his group as well (KO3). His first match was in the Quarterfinals where he won 4-0 in straight sets over Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez – but with three of those games extremely tight (14-12, 11-6, 12-10, 17-15). Kanak then topped Cuba’s Jorge Campos and that launched him into the Finals to play Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes. Kanak won the match 4-1, punching his ticket for Paris.
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