WU Yue continued the USA's dominance of the women's event, ensuring the USA took home the women's singles gold for the eighth time in ten attempts.
WU, who works part time at the table tennis bar SPiN New York as a coach, won an extremely tight final against GUI Lin (BRA) 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7 to become the Pan American Champion.
"After winning the second game, I started to think too much about winning the gold medal; that's why I lost the next three", said 25 year old WU. "It was important that I really concentrated better."
"At the change of ends in the seventh game when I was losing 5-1, I didn't really change anything: I just tried to play my game, try to be the first to attack and eventually I won!"
The win means that WU is only the second confirmed member of Team USA for the Rio 2016 Olympics, which is something that WU has always dreamt about: "I feel amazing. I am going to the Olympic Games. This is a dream come true, I can't believe it."
The women's losing semi finalists Lily ZHANG (USA) and Caroline KUMAHARA (BRA) both take home the bronze medals as does Thiago MONTEIRO (BRA) and home town favourite Eugene WANG (CAN).
