Colombia and Canada completed their hugely impressive FPS Pan American Championship campaigns as each won gold in the team event to bring their gold medal totals to four and two, respectively.
In the women’s final, top seeds Canada secured a first team gold since 2002 with a tight victory over No.2 seeds Colombia.
Canada made a strong start through Commonwealth Games silver medallist Hollie Naughton as the Canadian No.1 made short work of Lucia Bautista before Colombia’s Catalina Pelaez clinched an epic 15-13, 11-6, 17-15 win over individual champion Nicole Bunyan to take the tie to a decider.
It looked to be plain sailing for Canadian third string Nikole Todd after she took the opening two games 11-1, 11-3, only for Maria Tovar to pull a game back with an 11-9 win of her own.
In a hotly contested fourth game, Todd proved to be the hero as she clinched the game on a tie break as the gold medals went to Canada for the first time in 22 years.
Colombia weren’t to be disappointed for long, though, with their men’s team excelling as they won their third consecutive FPS Pan American Championship title after victories in Cartagena in 2023 and Guatemala City in 2022.
Juan Camilo Vargas started strongly for the [3/4] seeds, who took down hosts and top seeds Peru in the semi-final, with the 30-year-old beating 2022 individual champion Leandro Romiglio 11-4, 11-7, 11-2 before Matias Knudsen got the better of Jeremias Azana 11-8, 11-8, 11-9.
Results: FPS Pan American Championship Women’s Team Final
[1] Canada 2-1 [2] Colombia
Hollie Naughton bt Lucia Bautista 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (18m)
Nicole Bunyan lost to Catalina Pelaez 0-3: 13-15, 6-11, 15-17 (32m)
Nikole Todd bt Maria Tovar 3-1: 11-1, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10 (26m)
Results: FPS Pan American Championship Men’s Team Final
[3/4] Colombia 2-0 [3/4] Argentina
Juan Camilo Vargas bt Leandro Romiglio 11-4, 11-7, 11-2 (25m)
Matias Knudsen bt Jeremias Azana 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (36m)
Ronald Palomino w/d Robertino Pezzota
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