(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)

Different Olympic paths are in place for US Men and Women this year.  For the Women, they qualified for a full team – with Lily Zhang qualifying based upon World Ranking, and Amy Wang and Rachel Sung joining her on the squad through their efforts this weekend at the qualifier.

For the Men, they did not qualify a team and did not win the PanAm or any other automatic qualifier as individuals.  Further, with Kanak’s layoff, none of them currently hold a high enough ranking to qualify individually by ranking.  Thus, the path for TeamUSA players was to finish first or second in the qualifier this weekend and then to proceed to the ITTF Americas Olympic Qualification Event in Lima, Peru from May 14-18 where they will need to finish in the Top 4. Their chances should be good – as Brazil and Canada have already qualified their teams so they will not be present to compete.  Without Brazil and Canada, 4 or 5 very tough competitors won’t be there, however, there are lots of strong players in the Hemisphere.  Burgos in Chile is No. 54, Pereira in Cuba is No. 59, Afanador in Puerto Rico is No. 73, Mino in Ecuador is No. 85, Cifuentes in Argentina is No. 107, Aguirre in Paraguay is No. 128 and each of them have their own Olympic dreams.  Can one of our guys break through?  Can they both?  Check in with us in May as we provide updates throughout this final qualification event.

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