Iwaasa and Murray Back on the Podium

Photo credit : Candice Ward / COC

Coby Iwaasa & Samuel Murray finished off their Santiago 2023 Pan American Games with a second silver medal. The team won silver in the men’s team competition on Thursday, as a follow-up to their silver medal win in men’s doubles on Tuesday. 

The team competition pits nations against each other in a round of best of three matches, which includes 2 singles and one doubles match. 

After defeating the number one ranked team from Mexico in Wednesday’s semi-final, Canada faced the second seeded team from Bolivia in the final. Canada knew it wouldn’t be an easy task since Bolivia won both Pan Am gold and silver in men’s singles earlier in the week. 

Iwaasa was up first in a match against singles silver medalist Carlos Keller that went back and forth before finishing in a tie breaker with scores of 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 7-11, 13-11. Iwaasa had Keller on the ropes, but was unable to come up with the win.

Murray then played Conrrado Moscoso, who is the 2023 Pan American Games singles champion. It was tough match for Murray, who couldn’t seem to catch a break. Each tine he gained ground, Moscoso had an answer. Moscoso ended up winning in three games with scores of 11-5, 11-9, 11-2. 

You can watch the match on the Panam Sports Channel at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsadzWKdjaI

Our team is departing Bolivia tonight and will be home on Saturday. Watch for our final wrap up and summary of the tournament next week.