Kevin Cordon won his fourth men’s singles title at the Pan Am Championships yesterday – 15 years after he’d won his first.
It was in 2009 that the Guatemalan first surged to the top – both in men’s singles and men’s doubles (with Rodolfo Ramirez). Incidentally, the previous year, he’d won bronze in men’s singles and silver in men’s doubles.
Yesterday, on home turf at the YONEX Pan Am Individual Badminton Championships 2024, the 38-year-old recovered from a game down to beat surprise finalist Uriel Francisco Canjura Artiga 14-21 21-17 21-13 for his fifth Pan Am title overall.
USA’s Beiwen Zhang took the women’s singles title staving off the challenge from Canada’s Michelle Li 21-18 18-21 21-17.
Double for Smith, Lee
Presley Smith & Allison Lee
Presley Smith and Allison Lee achieved a double to help USA dominate the Pan Am Championships with four titles overall.
Smith and Lee overcame the loss of the opening game in the mixed doubles final to beat compatriots Vinson Chiu/Jennie Gai 15-21 21-15 21-14.
Lee returned for the women’s doubles with Francesca Corbett, and the world No.35 duo beat second seeds Annie Xu/Kerry Xu, ranked two places above them, 21-14 21-15.
Smith was on court for the day’s last match with Chen Zhi Yi. The USA world No.60 pair beat world No.35 Adam Dong/Nyl Yakura of Canada 21-14 21-11.
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