The new age category system and implementation of more competition in the Pan American region has opened new doors for the youth talents of Team JOOLA to take the stage and gain more experience in international competition. While garnering this experience, a few of our team players excelled and took away medals.

The event kicked off with the ITTF Americas Hopes Week and Challenge, which saw a spirited effort from MDTTC’s Ryan Lin to claim silver in the event. He was able to overcome Puerto Rico’s Enrique Rios in the semifinal who took home a bronze.

This was just the beginning of the medal haul, with a small handful of JOOLA players featuring regularly on the podiums.

Maryland’s Stanley Hsu, current Under 13 US National Champion, teamed up with Mu Du in the Under 13 team event to make quite an impact on the draw. It was great to see the two young friends from MDTTC playing together at an international event, and they certainly made a statement.

Reaching the final, they lost out to Enrique Rios and his teammate who were elated to win the gold medal.

Rios would add to his Hopes bronze with a silver medal in the Under 13 boys singles and then pair with his Team JOOLA Puerto Rican teammate Valentina Davila in the Mixed Doubles event to take gold. Again Rios was joined on the podium by USA’s Stanley Hsu, who played well to reach another final and claim another silver medal with his mixed doubles partner.

The boys singles proved to be a tough draw for Stanley Hsu, who unfortunately faced off against the eventual winner in the opening main draw match. Mu Du opened with a fantastic comeback win against his local opposition, sealing the round of 16 match in a nerve-wracking 5 games, before bowing out in the quarterfinals.

Alongside Rios and Hsu who led the medal haul for Team JOOLA, another star performer was Maxim Mouchinski from Lily Yip Table Tennis Center. Max recently burst onto the Under 11 scene at the US National Championships and was able to achieve a great run in Ecuador. Mouchinski took away a silver in the Under 11 Boys Team event and a Bronze in the singles.

The challenging conditions of 8500 feet of altitude were an obstacle for all of the young players, a testament to their ability to adapt and stay focused.

We are proud of the efforts of all of our players, and every player who wears a JOOLA logo on their shirt and is part of our global Team of passionate table tennis players. We look forward to seeing these talented young players continue to grow as they pursue their goals on the international stage!

Result Highlights:

Enrique Rios:
GOLD Under 13 Boys Team Event
GOLD Mini-Cadet Mixed Doubles with Valentina Davila
SILVER Under 13 Boys Singles
Bronze Hopes Boys Singles

Stanley Hsu:
SILVER Under 13 Boys Team Event with Mu Du
SILVER Mini-Cadet Mixed Doubles

Max Mouchinksi (LYTTC):
SILVER Under 11 Boys Team Event
Bronze Under 11 Boys Singles

Valentina Davila:
GOLD Mini-Cadet Mixed Doubles

Ryan Lin (MDTTC):
SILVER Hopes Boys Singles

Mu Du (MDTTC):
SILVER Under 13 Boys Team Event