U.S. Players Close Out Pan Ams with Medals Across 3 Events

On Day 4 of the XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2021 in Guatemala, U.S. athletes secured four top-3 finishes.

Beiwen Zhang, in women’s singles, and Phillip and Ryan Chew, in men’s doubles, closed out the championships with gold medals in their respective events. Other notable finishes came from Francesca Corbett and Allison Lee and Iris Wang. Corbett and Lee secured the silver medal in women’s doubles and Wang got the bronze medal in women’s singles.

In the women’s singles final, Zhang faced Canada’s Rachel Chan. The two were evenly matched at the start as Zhang worked to neutralize Chan’s jump smash by opting for more net play. Zhang led at the interval, 11-7, before accelerating to win, 21-14. Chan kept the second game close as she traded the lead with Zhang multiple times before leading 11-10 at the interval. Zhang took the lead back with four straight points out of the break and she had five match point opportunities at the end before winning, 21-18.

In the women’s doubles final, Corbett and Lee faced the first-seeded Canadian pair Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai. Corbett and Lee started the game fast trading points with the Canadians in intense rallies. Heading into the interval they were down by three but Honderich and Tsai pulled away after the break and won the first game, 21-12. In the second game, the Canadian pair took over early with strong play at the net. Although Corbett and Lee showed fantastic effort in laying out for shots, Honderich and Tsai won the second game, 21-7.

In men’s doubles, the Chew brothers had a walkover against Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura.