Jamaica went down fighting to the USA in the last Group B tie yesterday but qualified to the men’s team semi-finals of the Male & Female Pan Am Continental Team Championships 2018 yesterday.

Jamaica were assured of a semi-final place before the last group match as they had won their first two ties against Dominican Republic and Trinidad & Tobago. They will face Canada in the semi-finals while USA take on Peru. In the women’s team competition, USA will be challenged by Peru and Canada by Guatemala.

The group match between USA and Jamaica went the distance. Sattawat Pongnairat (featured image) gave USA the lead beating Dennis Coke 18-21 21-7 21-15, but Jamaica won the next two singles matches. Samuel Ricketts beat Calvin Lin 21-19 8-21 21-13 and Gareth Henry won a close contest against Ricky Liuzhou 21-16 12-21 21-19.

However, USA’s strength in doubles titled the balance, with Phillip Chew/Ryan Chew and Ricky Liuzhou/Sattawat Pongnairat seeing them through 3-2.

In other men’s team matches, Canada beat Barbados 5-0, and Dominican Republic saw off Trinidad & Tobago 5-0. In women’s group matches, USA and Canada had easy 5-0 victories over Trinidad & Tobago (Group A) and Peru (Group B) respectively.

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