PAN AM CHAMPS 2014 – Canada claws back to win team final

Home team Canada fought back from a two-match deficit to take a 3-2 win in the final of the mixed team competition at the Pan Am Championships.

By Don Hearn.  Photos: Valerie Loker (live) and Badmintonphoto (archives)

Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li was instrumental in her team’s 3-2 win over the United States, Canada’s 9th straight Pan Am mixed team title.  It came with the home team’s fourth straight win over the USA but it had been a long time since the Canadians had had to work so hard to win this title.

The day began with each team notching up a 3-0 semi-final shutout to book a spot in the finals.  Peru, which has reached two finals in the past decade but hasn’t won the continental team title since 1993, went down to the hosts while the U.S. team blanked Brazil.

The final then started off with a very close mixed doubles match involving 3 Olympians.  Canada’s Toby Ng and London semi-finalist Alex Bruce came back from the brink to win the second game 22-20 but it was the only non-Olympian on court, Phillip Chew, who put together his own little highlight reel in the deci