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6th South American Championships
07-14 Sep 2008, Asunción, Paraguay |
11-Sep, Individual Finals:
Alarcon & Fernandes take
gold for Brazil and Guyana
Mario Dominguez reports
With unquestionable victories and advanced as forecasted, Brazil, at
the hands of Rafael Alarcon and Guyana, through Nicolette
Fernandez, claimed the gold medals by winning their respective
finals.
In the women's final Fernandes showed her superiority by defeating
in three games Thaisa Serafini of Brazil, the defending champion, in
a 9/5, 9/5, 9/4 scoreline.
The first two games were well contested, but the accuracy of
Fernandes' shots and better positioning inside the court were
instrumental in the decisive points.
Already in the third game, speed and accuracy of Fernandes were
greater difference despite the great efforts of the young Brazilian
who fought until the last point, giving a very good spectacle for
the audience that filled the facilities of the International Tennis
Club .
Meanwhile the men's final showed that Brazilian Rafael Alarcon was
one step above the rest of the competitors of the tournament, as he
defeated the Argentine Matias Valenzuela by 9/1, 9/2, 9/3.
Despite Alarcon giving no chances to Valenzuela, it was a very
intense match particularly in the first two games where both players
brought great speed to the game. Partly due to the intense heat (35
C) playing dropshots was difficult, and that prompted the Argentine
to commit many mistakes in his quest to earn the points.
In the third game, Valenzuela tried to change the strategy of the
game, softening his shots, hoping to achieve a better accuracy
within the court, but Alarcon immediately adapted to the slower pace
and demonstrated the versatility of game he possesses, with showy
moves that really delighted the audience.
Yesterday also saw the finals of the doubles tournament with
the following results:
Men's Doubles - Peru defeated Brazil by 2/0.
Women's Doubles - Argentina defeated Chile by 2/0.
Mixed Doubles - Brazil defeated Argentina by 2/1.
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Fernandes & Serafini
Alarcon & Valenzuela |
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10-Sep, Semi-Finals:
Top seeds through to finals
The first women's semifinal saw a comfortable win for top seed
Nicolette Fernandes of Guyana, who beat Argentina's Antonella
Falcione 9/1, 9/2, 9/2.
In the other all-Brazilian semi-final Thaisa Serafini, the
defending champion, beat Karen Redfern 9/5, 10/8, 9/6.
In the first men's semi-final, Rafael Alarcon of Brazil
defeated Esteban Casarino of Paraguay with a resounding 9/0, 9/0,
9/2. The speed and accuracy of Alarcon, coupled with the resulting
wear on Casarino after two marathon matches earlier, made the
difference.
The other semi-final contested between Argentine´s Matias
Valenzuela and Hernan Dárcangelo, was won by Valenzuela 1/9,
9/2, 9/2, 9/6.
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08-08-08:
Brazil selects strong team
for S.A. Champs ...
 Rafael
Alarcon, many-time Brazilian champion and PSA top 50 player will
be leading his national team in the South American Championships in
Asunción next September.
 On
the women's side Karen Redfern, who has several South
American and Pan-American gold medals to her name, will be one of
the top players in the women's draw. Also in the Brazilian team is
Thaisa Serafini, the defending champion.
Full Brazilian
Team:
Men: Rafael Alarcon, Tiago Cabral, Fabio Cechin, Vinicius
Rodrigues
Women: Thaisa Serafíni, Karen Redfern,
Cristina Pontes
Manager: Nelson Netto |
2007 Championships |
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Asunción gearing up
for 6th SA Champs
The organization of the biggest event of the year keeps working
every day in Paraguay.
The 2008 South American Championship will be held in Asunción,
capital city of Paraguay from September 7th to 14th.
It will be the 6th Championship with its new format. During the 80’s
and early 90’s it was disputed as a tour in various countries around
the region and only in individuals. From 2003 the Championship has
the same format of the Pan am Champs with the individual draws
played in the first three days of competition, after that the team
events (3 players, 1 reserve) start. Also doubles are played during
the last three days, making it a very demanding week.
This is the first time that the S.A champs comes to Paraguay, one of
the founder countries of the CSS and is expected to be on the best
events ever, because of the venue and also the commitment to
participate expressed by all of the countries members of the CSS.
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The Countries: The championship can be entered by the members of
the C.S.S. (Confederación Sudamericana de Squash), Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
and the hosting country Paraguay, plus 3 guest countries from
central America and the Caribbean, been El Salvador, Guatemala and
Dominican Republic.
The Venue: All the games will be played in the Club
Internacional de tennis (www.cit.com.py), a social multidisciplinary
club. It has three international courts, plus other sport facilities
such as tennis, football, volleyball, squash, basketball, rugby etc.
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