Canada proved their supremacy at the continental level in the men’s and women’s team competitions at the Badminton Pan Am M&F Cup 2024 that concluded in Sao Paolo on Sunday.
The Canadians swept past hosts Brazil 3-0 for the Male Cup and achieved an identical rout over USA for the Female Cup, maintaining clean sheets all through the week. While the men’s team won all 21 of their matches, the women’s team were undefeated in 16 matches during the week.
Nevertheless, the Canadians were tested by Brazil in the men’s team final, with all the matches going to three games. The in-form Brian Yang needed 53 minutes to quell Ygor Coelho’s challenge before Dong Adam/Nyl Yakura made it 2-0 beating Fabricio Farias/Davi Silva 21-12 16-21 21-18.
Victor Lai clinched the winning point beating Jonathan Matias 24-22 13-21 21-19.
In the semifinals, Canada beat Mexico 3-0 while Brazil received a walkover from Guatemala.
Canada’s women had a relatively easier final against USA. Wen Yu Zhang was taken to three games in the opening women’s singles by Esther Shi, but Catherine Choi/Josephine Wu in women’s doubles and Rachel Chan in the second singles were comfortable straight-games winners over Joline Su/Kerry Xu and Ella Lin respectively.
The semifinals had seen USA beat Brazil 3-0 and Canada rout Peru by the same margin.
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