Two U.S. doubles teams won gold Saturday, ensuring all nine American athletes of an extra workout when dragging their heavier luggage to the airport for the flight home. The team will pack five gold, four silver and two bronze medals into its suitcases when it returns to the states.

“Everyone should have a good feeling of victory,” U.S. Head Coach Sean O’Neill said of his players. “Everyone won their last match.”

The U.S. doubles teams of Norman Bass (Inglewood, Calif.), Edward Levy (Portland, Ore.) and Mitchell Seidenfeld (Lakeville, Minn.) in men’s class 7 and Tahl Lebovitz (Ozone Park, N.Y.) and Wayne Lo (Sunnyvale, Calif.) in men’s class 8 added golden neckwear to the team haul with hard-fought wins in the finals.

Bass, Levy and Seidenfeld needed four sets to relegate the Brazilian trio of Carlo Di Franco Michell, Cristovan Lima and Luiz Medina to the silver medal. The American threesome went 4-0 in the team doubles round robin competition.

Leibovitz and Lo swept Canada’s Ian Kent and Masoud Mojtahed, wasting no time in conquest of doubles gold. The U.S. duo also finished the doubles tournament with a 4-0 record.

The gold-winning American pairs hustled around the table in limber fashion, circling each other while alternating hits of the 40 millimeter plastic ball. The silver duos played with equal intensity.

Friday in doubles action, the women’s wheelchair class 5 pair of Pamela Fontaine (Double Oak, Texas) and Noga Nir-Kistler (Allentown, Penn.) wrapped silver medals around their heads, as did the men’s wheelchair class 5 team of Stuart Caplin (Orange Park, Fla.) and Andre Scott (Forth Worth, Texas).

Earlier in the week, seven Americans medaled in class singles play. One U.S. player also solidified a spot at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.

Leibovitz, men’s class 8, and Seidenfeld, men’s class 7, went on respective rampages in taking gold. Seidenfeld earned the trip to China with his top finish, but Leibovitz was moved out of his class by the event organizers after class play had already begun, preventing him from moving to his rightful qualifying class.

Fontaine, women’s wheelchair class 3, and Nir-Kistler, women’s wheelchair class 5, fought to silver in their classes. Both U.S. athletes were participating in their first Parapan American Games.

Bass, men’s class 7, and Lo, men’s class 8, won bronze with their stellar play among stacked singles competition. Levy, men’s class 7, played Bass for the bronze.

On day one of competition, Leibovitz stormed the men’s open class to win his first of three gold medals. He has now played in three Parapan American Games, each time earning the same bundle of gold.

Final U.S. Table Tennis medal count:
Tahl Leibovitz, gold, men’s class 8
Leibovitz, gold, men’s open
Mitchell Seidenfeld, gold, men’s class 7
Pamela Fontaine, silver, women’s wheelchair class 3
Noga Nir-Kistler, silver, women’s wheelchair class 5
Norman Bass, bronze, men’s class 7
Wayne Lo, bronze, men’s class 8
Bass/Levy/Seidenfeld, gold, men’s class 7 doubles
Leibovitz/Lo, gold, men’s class 8 doubles
Caplin/Scott, silver, men’s wheelchair class 5 doubles
Fontaine/Kistler, silver, women’s wheelchair class 5 doubles