Sunday, August 10, 2008

World Championships - Day 1

DATELINE : AUGUST 2, 2008

The International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships began play today in Kingscourt, Ireland. There have been no major upsets so far - the Americans, Mexicans and Canadians have all won easily, but some of the results stand out.

Victor Montserrat, the 2007 European men's singles champion from Catalonia, won both of his matches Saturday. He was seeded 38th, and beat 27th seed Jose Daniel Ugalde of Ecuador, 10-15, 15-11, 11-7, in the Round of 64. Then Montserrat defeated 6th seed Fabian Balmori of Venezuela, 15-9, 15-9, in the Round of 32.

Montserrat will next face Michimune Kono of Japan in the Round of 16.

The other notable result was 25th seeded Fernando Rios of Ecuador, who also reached the Round of 16, by defeating Carlos Oviedo (Catalonia), 15-6, 15-2, and Marcelo Laprea (Venezuela), the 8th seed, 15-2, 15-5.

Rios will face Takaaki Hirose of Japan on Sunday.

Play in the individual competition continues through Tuesday. The team competition begins on Thursday and runs to next Saturday, August 9 in Kingscourt, Ireland. The draws are available at R2Sports.

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