Andy Maqueira

Havana, September 26 (ACN)-- Cuba's Andy Maqueira achieved a historic performance by winning the individual tournament of the U-11 and U-13 Pan American Table Tennis Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

"Andy Maqueira, El Genio, is crowned champion of the U11 category in his first international outing and qualifies to the World Hope. Historic result ever achieved by a Cuban tennis player," said the Cuban Table Tennis Federation on its Facebook page.

Maqueira defeated the U.S. Jason Liu 3-1 in the dispute for the gold, in a game with scores of 11-8, 14-12, 12-14 and 12-10, according to the tables on the official website of the International Table Tennis Federation.

In the semifinal, the Cuban beat Ecuador's Joaquín Vélez 3-1, in a challenge with scores of 14-12, 11-1, 9-11 and 11-5.

On the way to the medal discussion, Maqueira triumphed 3-1 over Colombian Ricky Tan Li (11-6, 11-5, 9-11 and 11-7) and 3-2 over Brazilian Flavio de Sousa (11-8, 1-11, 5-11, 11-8 and 5-11).

The duo formed by Maqueira and Alejandro Martinez lost in the round of 16 in the under-13 doubles event, 3-0 (9-11, 9-11 and 8-11) against the Brazilian duo formed by Felipe Yoshihiro de Melo Okano and Vinicius Rech.

Martinez, U-13, was defeated in the singles by De Melo Okano in the round of 16 by 3-0 (9-11, 8-11 and 9-11).