U. S. Women in Pan-Am Rematch Tomorrow
. also Bronstein's on-the-scene report.
By Rob Dinerman October 16

After stumbling to a somewhat disappointing fourth-place finish in their five-team preliminary pool early this week, the members of 2002 U. S. Women's team will now have to begin tomorrow's 9-16 Worlds draw with a first-round match against Canada, their conquerors late this past August in the final of the Pan American Federation Cup in Ecuador.

The 12th-seeded Americans were expected to lose to Egypt and Scotland, the two Pool D entries who will now compete for the World Team title in the Cup
competition for 1st through 8th place, but the 2-1 defeat to lower-seeded
Hong Kong yesterday evening was a demoralizing outcome which coach Sharon
Bradey and her crew will somehow have to find a way to put behind them in
time to go full force against the favored Canadians, whose starting line-up
is even stronger than it was in Ecuador with the addition of Margo Green into
the mix.

By virtue of its win over the U. S., Hong Kong will now play against 17th
seed Spain while the Americans have to face their ninth-seeded North American neighbors, who themselves fell short of qualifying for the top eight in a 2-1 Pool A loss to No. 8 seed South Africa.

The decision to rest Green, who had survived a draining four-game victory over India's Mekhala Subedar several hours earlier, in that crucial meet proved costly, as Melanie Jans's win for Canada at No. 1 was not enough to counter-balance an agonizing 10-9 in the fourth setback for Lauren Wagner against South African Claire Nitch and a 3-1 win by Nitch's teammate Sjeanne Cawdry over Carolyn Russell.

The other 9-16 quarter-final matches will pit France vs. Ireland and host
Denmark vs Germany. In the top flight, into which every top-eight seed
qualified in what amounted to a totem-pole pools playdown, Australia will
face Scotland, Malaysia will oppose Egypt, South Africa will play New Zealand
and defending champion England will take on the Netherlands. The Nos. 17-19
positions will be decided in a round-robin between the three winless
fifth-place pool finishers, Japan, India and Austria.

In yesterday's match with Hong Kong, [see Martin Bronstein's account of that match] Shabana Khan who had sat out the Scotland match to rest up for this one, nevertheless was unable to summon the requisite energy to pressure her opponent Christina Mak, who was covering Khan's placements and hitting winners with her working boast. There was a kind of deliberate low-key aspect to this match and Mak was allowed to establish a comfort zone, lobbing Khan deep into the back corners and following up with well-placed winners. Khan had played beautifully in taking first place in the early-June Team Trials, in which she even defeated her younger sister and reigning National Champion Latasha, but she has not been able to replicate that outstanding form either in South America or presently in Odense, and it is possible that at age 34 she no longer possesses the consistent arsenal to succeed at this level.

The pace and firepower that were visibly absent in this 28-minute
straight-game match between the No. 2 players was evident in full measure in
the encounter immediately following between No. 1's Latasha Khan and Rebecca Chiu. Both are used to hacking their way through the exacting qualifying rounds of the WISPA tour and the match devolved into a contrast between Khan's power and the smaller Chiu's ubiquity. Khan carried the play, and even managed to win a hard-fought 9-5 first game, but her attacking strategy took quite a toll as the play wore on, and she inexorably faded, dropping in fact the last two games of her four-game defeat by convincing 9-1 margins.

Julia Beaver was able to breeze to an anti-climactic 3-0 victory over Hong
Kong's Elise Ng in the "dead rubber" No. 3 match, but by then the damage had
been done.

The only way that the Americans can fulfill their No. 12
pre-tournament seeding is with a win in tomorrow's quarter-final against
Canada, since a loss will consign them to the 13-16 consolation bracket.
Latasha, who rallied from 0-2 to force a fifth game against Jans in the Pan
Am Fed gold-medal match, will have to overcome the hurdle of never having
defeated the tall Canadian in a decade-plus-long rivalry that began when both
were West Coast teenagers, while her sister Shabana will have to regain the
top form she recently held and whichever American (Beaver or Meredeth Quick)
plays at No. 3 will have to prevail for this upset to realistically have a
chance of happening.