Singles: Sid Naresh (USA) versus Diego Gallardo (MEX) in the final preliminary rounds at the ITTF Pan American Cup 2025 Preliminary Rounds. Burlingame, CA. Feb 19, 2025. (Photo by USATT)
US Players Jishan Liang, Sid Naresh and Xiangjing (Sean) Zhang join the Pan Am Cup 2025 main draw in Men’s Singles. Jessica Reyes Lai, Isabella Xu, Hildy Chen, Natalie Dong and Irene Yeoh move on for Women’s Singles.
Burlingame, Calif. – The conclusion of the preliminary rounds at the ITTF Pan American Cup 2025 welcomed 3 American men and 4 American women into the main draw.
On the men’s side, US players Jishan Liang, Sid Naresh and Xiangjing (Sean) Zhang advanced through the preliminary rounds to join no. 1 seed Kanak Jha and no. 11 seed Nandan Naresh. The top 24 men’s players will now compete in knock-out rounds for the title of Pan Am Cup Men’s Champion, with those reaching the semifinals receiving an invite to the World Cup in Macao, China in April.
The left-handed power-hitter Jishan Liang won his best of five prelim matchup in straight games (11-3, 11-4, 11-3) against Rohan Lewis (JAM) to start the final preliminary rounds for America. Liang seeks to improve his standing from last year’s ITTF Pan American Cup in Corpus Christie, TX, where he was eliminated in the round of 16 by Nicolas Burges (CHI).
Sid Naresh advanced to the men’s main draw with a victory over Diego Gallarrdo (MEX). Winning 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-7) Naresh enters the main event with another year of international experience, and the 22-year-old Illinois native looked sharper and more confident at his second consecutive appearance at the ITTF Pan American Cup.
The final addition for the United States in the Pan American Cup men’s main draw was Xiang Jing (Sean) Zhang. In his exceptional prelim performance, he entered the main draw as the only qualifier without a world ranking. To make the top 32, Zhang defeated Shemar Britton (GUY) in three games (11-3, 11-4, 11-6). Most impressively, he never fell behind in points for the duration of the match with Britton.
Singles: Irene Yeoh (USA) advances to the main draw against Natalie Dong (USA) in the preliminaries at ITTF Pan American Cup 2025. Burlingame, CA. Feb 19, 2025. (Photo by USATT)
On the women’s side, US’s Irene Yeoh reached the women’s singles main draw with a win over Natalie Dong 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-5) in the preliminaries. At just 13 years of age and one of the youngest players to compete in the Pan American Cup, the rising star has found gold medal success in singles, doubles and team events at Junior Pan American Regional Championships for the last two years. Yeoh earned three gold medals at last year's 2024 ITTF Pan American U15 Youth Championships in Lima Peru. She will be one of the more intriguing players to follow during this year’s Cup as she attempts to elevate her game to the next levels of competition at such a young age.
Irene Yeoh will join number 2 seed Lily Zhang, number 4 seed Amy Wang—last year’s Pan Am Cup runner-up, Hildy Chen, Jessica Reyes-Lai and Isabella Xu from the US in the main draw.
The draw ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. PST today, Thursday, February 20, 2025, with the schedule of matches to come shortly after.
Live coverage of the competition will begin on Friday, February 21 and will continue through Sunday, February 23 on the USATT Website and YouTube Channel.
