June 19, 2009
High Spirited Brazilian Beats High Ranked Adversary
 A more restrained Douglas Tomioka. Photo By: Carlos Esnard |
Courtesy of ITTF The young Brazilian made sufficient noise to disturb those sleeping on the Copacabana after long night at one of Rio de Janeiro’s famed night clubs. Every point won was greeted by growl that made the grunting of the much celebrated tennis star Maria Sharapova a mere cat’s whimper. |
Equally, there was a raised fist in salute of success after every point won but never aimed at Olivares.
Disturbed
However, the antics clearly disturbed Olivares; a European umpire would undoubtedly have chastised the young Brazilian with a yellow card and perhaps even red.
I applaud enthusiasm but Tomioka went a step too far and he needs to be careful in the future; he may just incur the wrath of a less lenient official.
Stark Contrast
The antics of Tomioka were is stark contrast to Ecuador’s Ivan Proaño who brought the day’s proceedings to an end. Against Peru’s David Quiñones he remained totally quiet, kept his concentration in the crucial fifth game and emerged successful.
Sometimes I wonder if excessive antics cause a loss of concentration; for Tomioka to his credit, he maintained his concentration, for Proaño keeping quiet and thus keeping calm was the winning formula.
Puerto Rican Integrity
It was a good day for the young Ecuadorian who caused somewhat of an upset by winning the group, overcoming the higher rated Venezuelan Marco Rosas and Puerto Rico’s Wilfdredo Garcia.
The latter suffered defeat but showed great integrity; at a crucial stage of what proved to be the deciding fourth game, a topspin from Proaño clipped the edge of the table. The umpire awarded the point to Garcia; Proaño looked aghast; immediately Garcia advised the ball had touched.
It was a fine sporting gesture, credit to Wilfredo Garcia and to Puerto Rico.
Only Upset
The defeat of Felipe Olivares was the only upset amongst the leading names on duty, the next seven in line all finished in top place in their respective groups.
There was success for Brazil’s Paulo Rocha and Danilo Toma, Argentina’s Rodrigo Gilabert, Chile’s Matias Contreras, Venezuela’s Gustavo Ascasco and Danilo Barreto plus also for Peru’s Roberto Torres.
Junior Girls’ Singles
Meanwhile, in the Junior Girls’ Singles event, the top eight all negotiated the group stage successfully.
It was first place for Chile’s Blanca Duran and Karen Rojas, Paraguay’s Sandy Gavilan. Peru’s Angela Mori, Argentina’s Ana Codina, Brazil’s Livia Mizobuchi, Puerto Rica’s Lyanne Aponte and Venezuela’s Jennypher Orellana.
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