The recent 2025 ITTF Pan American Cup took place in San Francisco, USA and Team JOOLA’s Lily Zhang and Amy Wang both successfully navigated their way to the medal podium in the Women’s Singles Event.

Their successful road to the semifinals of the event earned them their spots at the 2025 ITTF World Cup in Macao later this year, with Zhang going one, and almost two steps further in the draw.

Amy Wang took a bye into the round of 16 where she faced Chile’s iconic table tennis veteran defender Zhiying Zeng in a close 6-game encounter. At one point the match was drawn up at 2-2, before Wang stepped up the pressure to end it 4-2. Wang praised Zeng’s longevity in the game and labelled her an inspirational figure after the match.

In the quarterfinals she continued, overcoming JOOLA teammate Brianna Burgos from Puerto Rico in 5 games. She eventually bowed out in the semifinals with a 1-4 loss to eventual Women’s Champion Bruna Takahashi from Brazil.

Lily also kicked things off with a win in the round of 16 over Ecuador’s Angelica Arellano in a convincing 4-games. She repeated this margin over JOOLA’s Brazilian star Giulia Takahashi in the quarertfinals. Lily looked confident.

An exceptional semifinal performance saw Zhang cruise past one of her biggest North American rivals, Mo Zhang. Lily looked unstoppable in the opening games, quickly establishing a 3-0 lead. Zhang had recently defeated her Canadian rival in Major League Table Tennis just a week ago. The two have a long head to head career over 10 years where their results are more-or-less an even split down the middle in international competition.

While Mo fought back in the 4^th, USA’s four-time Olympian was able to get the job done in the 5^th and advance to the final.

The finals match was an hour of pure intensity, and incredibly close games. Zhang had defeated Bruna at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the Brazilian was out for revenge, and to defend her Pan Am Cup title, having won last year.

There were many point swings in the match, leads and comebacks. Zhang stole away the first game after trailing, to settle into the match and put the early pressure on. In the second Bruna swiped it back 14-12, and then stormed into the third to win 11-5. Takahashi was hitting sharp shots and finding some exceptional wide angles to Zhang’s forehand. She seemed comfortable with the pace the American was setting in the match.

During the intense match Zhang experienced some issues with her tricep, eventually calling an injury timeout and receiving some physio to try and get her back on track.

Zhang began to adjust the pace and slow things down, focusing on steady spin and snappy counters. The variations in pace during the rallies seemed to have a favourable impact, and Zhang narrowly took the next two games to hold a 3-2 lead.

The finish line came into view as Zhang held match point, but Takahashi held her nerves and was able to battle off 3 championship points.

15-13 in the 6^th and the Brazilian pressed a 7^th game showdown. This final had become an absolute spectacle for the fans.

Bruna took an early lead, and she road the wave to the finish line. It was always going to be a tough final between the two. Lily had battled her way through injury to stand on the precipice of winning her third Pan Am Cup, but alas it was not to be.

Back to back titles for Bruna Takahashi, and a silver medal this time for Lily. Amy Wang’s bronze landed 2 Team JOOLA players on the podium and stamped tickets for both of them to attend the 2025 ITTF World Cup in Macao later this year.

On the men’s side it was a tough few days for the JOOLA team, with Brazil’s Guilherme Teodoro, Vitor Ishiy and Sid Naresh all ending their competition before the quarterfinal stage.