Carom
SANTIAGO - The elimination of the Colombian Alexander Salazar by Alejandro Caravajal from Chile is the biggest surprise in the first knockout round of the Pan-American championship. Salazar was seen as one of the favorites for the title. Salazar lost 2-1 (5-15, 15-13, 15-12).
The Venezuelan Daniel Reyes was outplayed in the first round of the main tournament by Julian Torres (2-0).
The eighth-finals will be played today with 7 Colombians, 4 Chileans, two Ecuadorians, one Venezuelan, one Peruvian and one Argentinian.
Heriberto Aristizabal was the winner with the highest average in the sixteenth-finals. The Colombian defeated Pablo Chicurel from Cheli 2-0 and 1.500. The other star players were Andres Naranjo (2-0 against Marco Valencia, 1.429), Carloman Ortiz (2-0 against Idelfonso Alvarez, 1.425), Carlos Campino (2-0 against Miguelangel Librador, 1.429) and Henry Diaz (2-1 against Ivan Cartagena, 1.483).
Two Venezuelans, Merlin Romero and Miguel Canton, played a wonderful match in which Romero needed a tough endrush to win. He took the final set for 2-1, but had a worse average than his opponent: 1.188/1.355.
Javier Teran needed a decider at 1-1 against the Colombian Pedro Gonzales, whom he defeated with 2-1 (1.323/1.067). Carlos Campino, one of the Chilean contenders, played an excellent game against Miguel Angel Librador from Venezuela (2-0, 1.420/1.350, 15-14, 15-11).
Christopher Tevez from Peru crept through the eye of a needle against his fellow countryman Ricardo Perreira , whom he beat in the deciding set 15-13.
The other main players who entered next round were Robinson Morales, who beat the Chilean Carlos Guerra 2-0, Luis Aveiga, with the same score against Francisco Taylor, Daniel Morales, who won 2-0 against Edvardo Vahedzian and Andres Naranjo, who beat Marco Valencia 2-0.
The matches in the eighth finals are:
Ariztazabal-Sisterna, Toro-Torres, Naranjo-Tevez, Romero-Daniel Morales, Aveiga-Diaz, Robinson Morales-Campino, Gonzalez-Sobarzo, Caravajal-Ortiz.