Winner of the Under 21 Men’s Singles title at the Latin American Championships in El Salvador’s principal city, San Salvador, in 2009; Ecuador’s 19 year old Alberto Miño retained the title one year later, on Friday 5th March 2010, in the Mexican city of Cancun.

The only difference was that in 2010, he won more convincingly; stretched to the limit in 2009, at no stage one year later was a decisive fifth game needed as he strode to gold.

Quite simply, the model attitude displayed by Alberto Miño was once again rewarded.

He is the dream player for any coach. Alkways he gives one hundred per cent effort, one hundred per cent of the time. Never is there a display of anger, he is humble in victory, magnanimous in defeat.

Success on Home Soil
At the final hurdle he overcame the Dominican Republic’s Juan Vila, the no.4 seed, and in so doing repeated the success of some five months earlier.

In September 2009 in his home city of Guayaquil, Alberto Miño had beaten Juan Vila in the final of the Under 21 Men’s Singles event at the inaugural Ecuador Open.

Four Games Tradition
No full distance matches for Alberto Miño but he did give coach, Paul Bermeo, some cause to sit on the edge of his seat; he won every match in four games.,

Always he showed an element of charity by surrendering one game.

Extracted Revenge
In the opening round he defeated El Salvador’s Luis Mejia before accounting for the Dominican Republic’s Samuel Galvez in the quarter-finals to book a semi-final berth against Colombia’s Juan Restrepo.

One year ago in San Salvador, the two had met in the penultimate round with Alberto Miño emerging the winner by the very narrowest of five game margins; furthermore at the Bolivarianos Games earlier in the year the Ecuadorian had suffered defeat at the hands of the Colombian.

In Cancun, Alberto Miño imposed his authority on matters to extract revenge; no five games thriller this time, of course four games true to Cancun tradition to book his place in the final.

Juan Vila Impressive
The silver medal for Juan Vila, who en route to the final had been most impressive.

He beat Mexico’s Miguel Lara in his opening contest in three straight games before inflicting the same punishment on Argentina’s impressive Rodrigo Gilabert at the quarter-final stage.

Dino Suarez in Top Form
A semi-final place reserved he overcame Alberto Miño’s compatriot, Dino Suarez, in four games; the Ecuadorian, also 19 years old and from the same city as Alberto Miño underlined recent progress.

At the quarter-final stage he beat El Salvador’s top seeded, Josué Donado, by the very faintest of five game margins to book a semi-final place; six hours a day, six days a week at the High Performance Training Centre in Guayaquil, had paid dividends.

Notable Progress
Two players in the semi-finals of the Under 21 Men’s Singles event, marks notable progress for Ecuador.

Now with a detailed coaching structure in place at the High Performance Training Centre in Guayaquil, surely there are more riches to come for the South American country, many more.

In Cancun Dino Suarez excelled, Alberto Miño set the example.

Source: www.ittf.com

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