March 17, 2010
Friendship First in Latin America
 Fun for the family in Bolivia Photo By: Courtesy of Renel Mendez |
Courtesy of ITTF Not only did Barbados and Paraguay seize the initiative, Bolivia, Guatemala, Uruguay and Venezuela all followed suit. It is the friendly continent, in other parts of the world it may take a few hours or days to make friends; in Latin America friendships are made in less time than Fernando Alonso can complete one lap in his bright red Ferrari. |
It’s the continent where work interferes with pleasure. It’s the continent, where in many countries the most popular word in the dictionary is “mañana”.
No Tomorrow
However, when it came to International Women’s Day it was very much the present, tomorrow was the effect of today and much of the credit for the large participation in the Latin American continent can be attributed to the motivational efforts of Paraguay’s Norma Jara and Argentina’s Alejandra Gabaglio.
It seems the two ladies, both members of the ITTF Women’s Working Group, cracked the whip! There was no tomorrow!
Corbillon Cup Celebrated
In Bolivia, Cochabamba was the home for "Copa Courbillón"; a competition organized Renel Mendez Marquez (President of the Bolivian Table Tennis Association), Nayra Herbas Campos (Technical Officer, Bolivian Table Tennis Association) and members of the association’s Executive Committee.
A total of 40 people participated in teams of two players with a qualification stage preceding a single-elimination phase.
Family Day
A large number of children, accompanied by their mothers or fathers took party, in fact most teams involved relations; local companies Embolism with Coca Cola products and PIL Andina SA supported the event.
The father and daughter pairing of Juan Carlos and Stephany Caceres emerged as champions with friends Adriana Padilla and Rodrigo Mendez in second place followed by brother and sister Alejandro and Fatima Zambrana.
A notable occasion as will be Monday March 21, 2011; on that date the country will celebrate 60 years of the Bolivian Table Tennis Association.
Leading Ladies
Plenty of action in Bolivia and that was the situation in Guatemala Claudia Cordero, the President of the National Table Tennis Federation and Claudia Veliz from the Women’s Commission of the Guatemalan Olympic Committee led proceedings.
Intecfa Laboratories sponsored the event by providing a wide range of gifts.
Three Competitions
The event took place on Saturday March 6, 2010 at the Headquarters of the Guatemalan Table Tennis Federation with 21 players in attendance.
Three competitions were held.
Ines Jo won the Mum’s Tournament with Mirna Muralles in second place followed by Margarita Rodas and Lucia Jo; the Intermediate Category was won by Alejandra Meda, runners up spot went to Kimberly Lopez with Lucia Cordero and Nancy Vásquez sharing third place, while in the Intermediate Section it was the top prize for Maria Fernanda Estrada.
Milagros Diaz was the runner up with joint third place going to Nury Andrea Vasquez and Andrea Montufar.
Breast Cancer Awareness
Further south in Uruguay, International Women's Day in Uruguay was celebrated with a table tennis tournament with Dolores Rubio organizing matters.
She is a member of the Women’s Committee of the Uruguayan Table Tennis Federation of Table Tennis as well as being a member of the Uruguayan Confederation of Sports and a member of the Women’s Committee for the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Uruguay.
Certificates of Participation were presented as were handmade souvenirs in the form of small table tennis racket blades with the logo of the International Women's Day. The blades were adorned with a pink ribbon to symbolize the fight against breast cancer worldwide; information on which was circulated to all members.
Women’s Doubles
Equally, following the example of its Latin American compatriots, Venezuela was in action to celebrate International Women’s Day.
On Sunday March 14, 2010 Naguanagua was the home for a Women’s Doubles tournament in which 20 players participated. Players were organized into two categories according to ability with the top three pairs receiving medals and the top six, ITTF Women’s Group Pin Badges, chocolates and flowers.
Neridé Niño and Aryenis Ruiz emerged as the winners followed by Zulay Rodriguez and Fabiola Lozada with Dorianna Fasano and Leslie Azzat in third place.
Enjoyable Day
An enjoyable day in Venezuela as it was in Barbados, Bolivia, Guatemala, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela; in the Friendly Continent it was friendship, the Friendship Trophy.
Time for a break in Guatemala.
Photo courtesy of Claudia Cordero
Medalists in Venezuela.
Photo courtesy of Norma Jara
Plenty of enthusiasm in Bolivia.
Photo by courtesy of Renel Mendez
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