3-Cushion
LIMA - The home crowd cheers for Ramon Rodriguez, he Colombians and Pedro Piedrabuena are the main favorites for the title and Huberney Cataño tops the ranking after the group stages at the Pan American championships in Lima. The former titleholder, last year defeated in the final by Pedro Piedrabuena and Henry Diaz is out for revenge. He played 1.525 of average over three matches and is followed by Robinson Morales (1.451) and Andres Lizarazo (1.428). The first non Columbian is Pedro Piedrabuena 1.406.
At the Estadio Nacional in the Peruvian capital city, Henry Diaz is the defending champion. Ramon Rodriguez started with two glorious victories, against Ricardo Aviles (30-8 in 15) and Luis Vega (30-10 in 18), but the musical phenomenon was defeated by Miguel Torres in his third group match 30-25 in 21.
Javier Vera was one of the stars with a win in fifteen innings against Hugo Miranda (30-8). Julian Morales, who was defeated by Piedrabuena (30-9 in 17) starred in the preliminaries with the best run: 14, in his match against Victor Crovetto.
Huberney Cataño launched himself as one of the big favorites for the title. The Colombian defeated in the group stage Joel Espinosa (30-13 in 23), Lee Young-Gull (30-16 in 17) and Christopher Tevez (30-16 in 19). Robinson Morales bested Ernesto Blanco (30-13 in 18) and Ruben Ferreira in 19 innings.
Other strong performances in the group stage: Juan Jose Garcia got the better of Giovanni Moreno, 30-7 in 17 innings. Luis Aveiga triumphed against Harry Reyes 30-14 in 20. Javier Teran overran Alan Campos 30-9 in 19 and beat Luis Martinez 30-27 in 16.
Ramon Rodriguez is facing another favorite in the knockout: Luis Aveiga from Ecuador. Harry Reyes plays against Jose Juan Garcia, Christopher Tevez against Henry Diaz.
Seventeen players of 32 in the main draw finished over one average, eight of them were Colombians. The others: Pedro Piedrabuena (USA), Erick Tellez (Costa Rica), Javier Vera (Mex), Guido Saco (Per), Key Bardales (Per), Victor Tenorio (Per), Alejandro Carvajal (Chi), Javier Teran (Ecu) en Christian Hernandez (Mex).
Huberney Catano topped the ranking after the group stage
The top of the ranking after the group stage:
1. Huberney Cataño 1.525
2. Robinson Morales 1.451
3. Andres Lizarazo 1.428
4. Pedro Piedrabuena 1.406
5. Erik Tellez 1.406
6. Javier Vera 1.384
7. Luis Martínez 1.323
8. Guido Saco 1.232
9. Jose Juan García 1.184
10. Alejandro Carajal 1.058
11. Cayo Bardales 0.989
12. Miguel Torres 0.937
13. Javier Serrano 0.900
14. Henry Diaz 1.224
15. Luis Aveiga 1.116
16. Jefferson Troya 0.780.
The knockout matches:
Huberney Cataño (Col)-Daniel Aguilar
Jeferson Troya (Ecu)-Javier Terán (Ecu)
Guido Saco (Mex)-Carlos Campiño (Col)
José Juan García (Col)-Harry Reyes (Col)
Pedro Piedrabuena (USA)-Juan Sisterna (Arg)
Javier Serrano (Arg)-Julián Morales (Col)
Erick Tellez (Crc)-Ronald Rubio (Ecu)
Miguel Torres (USA)-Victor Tenorio (Per)
Andres Lizarazo (Col)-Carlos Nuñez (Pan)
Henry Díaz (Col)-Cristian Hernández (Mex)
Javier Vera (Mex)-Alejandro Riffo (Chi)
Cayo Bardales (Per)-Oscar Pachas (Per)
Robinson Morales (Col)-Juan Cartagena (Bol)
Luis Aveiga (Ecu)-Ramón Rodriguez (Per)
Luis Martínez (Col)-Pedro Reyes (Ecu)
Alejandro Carvajal (Chi)-Cristopher Tevez (Per).
Luis Aveiga, next opponent for Ramon Rodriguez, watching the games from the stage