BUENOS AIRES—Facing the No. 1 player in the world in a crucial meeting certainly has its downside for Jann Mari Nayre.
Kanak Jha of the United States shut the door on Nayre in the round of 16 after posting a narrow 13-11, 11-8, 15-13, 11-8, straight-set victory on Monday in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games at the Table Tennis Arena of the Technopolis here.
“I have kept the game close and even had the chance to win one or two sets, but his (Jha) experience really proved beneficial for him in the end,’’ said Nayre, the first Filipino paddler to qualify in the Youth Olympics.
While Nayre bowed out of contention, Jha, ranked No. 1 worldwide in the under-18 category, topped the Group B men’s preliminary round and will keep Nicolas Burgos of Chile company in the next stage.
Burgos, despite dropping his opening match against Nayre and losing to Jha, still made it to the round of 16 after sending Austria’s Maciej Kolodziejczyk to his knees.
The 18-year-old table tennis ace saw his chances vanish after that crushing defeat at the hands of Kolodziejczyk the other day.
“That was a crucial match that slipped away,’’ said Nayre, who reached the quarterfinals of the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games and the round of 32 in the Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Credited for Nayre’s campaign in the YOG is Korean coach Kwon Mi Sook, who spent her own money to help Nayre in training. It was also Mi Sook who plotted the journey of the late Ian Lariba in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Over at the Olympic Park, swimmer Nicole Oliva missed her chance to move forward to the finals of the women’s 100-meter freestyle following a sixth-place finish in the qualifying heats.
Filipino-Norwegian Christian Tio, meanwhile, entered the top six after the first round of action in kiteboarding.
Oliva, a bronze medalist in the KL SEA Games, is due to compete in the heats of the 800m freestyle while golfers Yuka Saso, Carl Jano Corpus and fencer Lawrence Everett Tan will also debut today.