ITTF Para Pan Am Championships: Van Emburgh, Seidenfeld and Leibovitz win gold

(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)

The 2025 ITTF Para Pan American Championships concluded this weekend in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It provided four days of fierce competition among the hemisphere’s best para-athletes, with players from the US competing against the top players from Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica and many others.

The winners qualified directly for the 2026 World Para Championships – and that was the case for three Americans: Jenson Van Emburgh, Ian Seidenfeld and Tahl Leibovitz. In Class 3 men’s singles, Van Emburgh recorded a 3-1 win over Argentina’s Gabriel Copola in the semi-finals and a 3-1 win over Brazilian Welder Camargo Knaf in the final. Ian Seidenfeld upset top-seeded Ignacio Torres of Chile in the semi-finals before beating Chile’s Matias Pino 3-0 in the Class 6 final. And in Class 9, Tahl Leibovitz defeated Argentina’s Eithan Scliarsky 3-0 in the semi-finals and then defeated Lucas Dos Santos Carvalho of Brazil in the final. Each of these three have now secured their ticket to Glasgow, Scotland, host of the World Para Championships this summer.

USA also had a number of other participants. Samuel Altshuler was 1-1 in Class 6 men’s singles, losing in the semifinals. Logan Watson also fell in the semi-finals of his event – ​​men’s singles class 9. Randall Medcalf was less fortunate in men’s singles class 10, losing in the quarter-finals to the runner-up from Chile.

Another American gold medal went to Tahl Leibovitz and Logan Watson in the MD 18 men’s doubles division, when they defeated the top-seeded Brazilian team in the semifinals and the second-seeded (also) Brazilian team in the final.

Solid results across the board from TeamUSA – and another step for three top contenders for medals at the World Para Championships next summer.

For full results and competition details, visit the official ITTF results page.

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