At 44, Tahl Leibovitz is no spring chicken. The Queens, New York native has been winning international gold medals in para table tennis since 1996, when he won them men's Class 7 division in the Atlanta Paralympics. Since 2003, he has not come home from the Para Pan American Games without at least one gold medal. At the Lima 2019 Para Pan American Games, Leibovitz was gunning for an incredible fifth straight gold in his men's singles division. Now playing in the Class 9 division, Leibovitz ran the table in his qualifying group. In fact, he did not surrender a single game en route to the finals, accounting for Brazil's Lucas Carvalho (11-4, 12-10, 11-3) in the semis. In the final, Leibovitz faced Mexico’s Miguel Vazquez. Finally, Leibovitz would be challenged. At 21, Vazquez was less than half of his veteran opponent's age, and hungry to make a name for himself against the all-time champ. Leibovitz claimed the all-important first game by the minimal margin. Vazquez then regrouped to win the next two by identical 11-7 scores. Seeing his gold medal slipping away, and with it an automatic invitation to the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, Leibovitz dug deep. In the fourth game, he again won my the two-point minimum, leveling the match at two-all. It would all then come down to the deciding fifth game. As these two fighters went back and forth, it was Vazquez who earned the first game, match and championship point at 10-9. Summoning all of his Queens toughness, Leibovitz saved all of the above with a well-placed, half-paced forehand loop. Deuce. Another tough forehand from Leibovitz earned him his first championship point, and his crafty service winner brought the marathon 46-minute match to a close, (11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10). Throw in a haul of silver medals from US Para teammates Jenson Van Emburgh, Ahad Sarand and Ian Seidenfeld in their respective divisions and the USA had a most successful Saturday. Such depth bodes well for the team events starting today. Saturday, however, belonged to the O.G. from Queens, still standing Tahl.

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