IRF - World Junior Championship - Competition Summary

Below is the medal summary from the 24th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Racquetball Championships that happened last week in Canoga Park, California. Bolivia came out on top of the team points competition, although they were not the country with the most medals. Bolivia had 10 medals - four gold, four silver and two bronze. Both the USA and Mexico had 11 medals.

Mexico medalled in all but one of the World Cup divisions (Girl's U18 was the exception), but they had only two gold medals. The USA medalled in all by two World Cup divisions but they only got one silver medal on the girl's side and two of their three gold medals were from Boy's U18 (Marco Rojas and Jose Diaz).

Guatemala and Costa Rica had break-through years, as they picked up gold medals for the first time ever (Guatemala in Girl's U16 doubles and Costa Rica in Girl's U14 doubles) and Costa Rica had maybe its best ever medal count, as medals went to Costa Rica in six divisions. Three Costa Ricans were double medalists: Andres Acuña (Boy's U16), Jose Ubilla (Boy's U14) and Melania Sauma (Girl's U14).

If one country is getting more medals, then other countries must be getting fewer. The countries with fewer medals this year than past years are the USA and Ecuador. The USA had 11 medals this year, which was up one from last year, but they had 15 in 2010, 15 in 2009 and 16 in 2008, so they are off from their totals of a few years ago.

Ecuador has been shut out of the medals this year and last after having two medals in 2010, three in 2009 and two in 2008.

Bolivia's, Mexico's and Canada's medal totals have fluctuated slightly over the last few years but have generally been about the same. Bolivia's averaged 9.4 medals in the last five years, Mexico 11.6, and Canada 5.2.

We're a bit confused by the awarding of two bronze medals in the doubles divisions that were round robin competitions, as it should be clear who's 3rd and who's 4th in a round robin (there are rules for breaking ties when a teams' wins and losses are the same). But nevertheless, according to the IRF website, there were two bronze medalists in all doubles divisions.

This led to Aisling Hickey being the first ever double medalist from Ireland, as she got bronze in singles and doubles (with Katie Kenny). Ireland has medalled in each of the last four World Junior competitions.

24th IRF World Junior Racquetball Championships
Canoga Park, California

MEDAL SUMMARY - Singles

Boy's U18

GOLD Marco Rojas (USA)
SILVER Jose Diaz (USA)
BRONZE Salvador Ortiz (Mexico)
BRONZE Sebastian Franco (Colombia)

Boy's U16

GOLD Coby Iwaasa (Canada)
SILVER Andreas Acuña (Costa Rica)
BRONZE Adam Manilla (USA)
BRONZE Erik Garcia (Mexico)

Boy's U14

GOLD Gonzalo Paco (Bolivia)
SILVER Cristhian Mina (Bolivia)
BRONZE Jose Ubilla (Costa Rica)
BRONZE Alejandro Almada Felix (Mexico)

Girl's U18

GOLD Maria Jose Vargas (Bolivia)
SILVER Adriana Riveros (Bolivia)
BRONZE Aisling Hickey (Ireland)
BRONZE Kelani Bailey (USA)

Girl's U16

GOLD Natalia Mendez (Bolivia)
SILVER Ximena Gonzalez (Mexico)
BRONZE Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala)
BRONZE Michèle Morissette (Canada)

Girl's U14

GOLD Diana Aguilar (Mexico)
SILVER Natalia Mendez (Bolivia)
BRONZE Erika Manilla (USA)
BRONZE Melania Sauma (Costa Rica)

MEDAL SUMMARY - Doubles

Boy's U18

GOLD Jose Diaz & Marco Rojas (USA)
SILVER Danilo Torrico & Vladimir Sona (Bolivia)
BRONZE Salvador Ortiz & Missael Leija (Mexico)
BRONZE Ashton Duda & Samuel Murray (Canada)

Boy's U16

GOLD Rodrigo Montoya & Francisco Javier Mar Garcia (Mexico)
SILVER Coby Iwaasa & Sami Harb (Canada)
BRONZE Andres Acuña & Pablo Sauma (Costa Rica)
BRONZE Adam Manilla & Sawyer Lloyd (USA)

Boy's U14

GOLD Jordan Barth & Justus Benson (USA)
SILVER Jose Ubilla & Alexander Pirie (Costa Rica)
BRONZE Victor Camacho & Jordy Alonso (Mexico)
BRONZE Rodrigo Mendoza & Gonzalo Paco (Bolivia)

Girl's U18

GOLD Adriana Riveros & Maria Jose Vargas (Bolivia)
SILVER Alexandra Herrera & Natalia Villagomez (Mexico)
BRONZE Kelani Bailey & Samantha Simmons (USA)
BRONZE Aisling Hickey & Katie Kenny (Ireland)

Girl's U16

GOLD Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala)
SILVER Ximena Gonzalez & Lucia Gonzalez (Mexico)
BRONZE Kaitlin Simmons & Lexi York (USA)
BRONZE Veronica Dotty & Mariana Lopez (Bolivia)

Girl's U14

GOLD Melania Sauma & Sofia Soley (Costa Rica)
SILVER Diana Aguilar & Mariel Morales (Mexico)
BRONZE Jordan Cooperrider & Erika Manilla (USA)
BRONZE Callie Drury & Alexis Iwaasa (Canada)

MEDAL SUMMARY

Boy's

USA - 6 = 3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze
Mexico - 6 = 1, 0, 5
Bolivia - 4 = 1, 2, 1
Costa Rica - 4 = 0, 2, 2
Canada - 3 = 1, 1, 1
Colombia - 1 = 0, 0, 1

Girl's

Bolivia - 6 = 3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze
Mexico - 5 = 1, 3, 1
USA - 5 = 0, 1, 4
Guatemala - 2 = 1, 0, 1
Costa Rica - 2 = 1, 0, 1
Canada - 2 = 0, 0, 2
Ireland - 2 = 0, 0, 2

Combined

USA - 11 = 3 gold, 2 silver, 6 bronze
Mexico - 11 = 2, 3, 6
Bolivia - 10 = 4, 4, 2
Costa Rica - 6 = 1, 2, 3
Canada - 5 = 1, 1, 3
Guatemala - 2 = 1, 0, 1
Ireland - 2 = 0, 0, 2
Colombia - 1 = 0, 0, 1

TEAM COMPETITION - Boy's

GOLD USA
SILVER Mexico
BRONZE Bolivia
4. Canada
5. Costa Rica
6. Colombia
7. Guatemala
8. Ecuador
9. Dominican Republic
10. Nicaragua
11. Venezuela
12. Chile
12. Ireland
14. South Korea
15. Argentina
16. Puerto Rico

TEAM COMPETITION - Girl's

GOLD Bolivia
SILVER Mexico
BRONZE USA
4. Canada
5. Guatemala
6. Costa Rica
7. Ireland
8. Ecuador
9. Nicaragua
10. Dominican Republic
10. Venezuela
12. Honduras
13. South Korea
13. Argentina

TEAM COMPETITION - Overall

GOLD Bolivia
SILVER USA
BRONZE Mexico
4. Canada
5. Costa Rica
6. Guatemala
7. Ecuador
8. Ireland
9. Dominican Republic
10. Colombia
11. Nicaragua
12. Venezuela
13. Chile
14. South Korea
15. Honduras
16. Argentina
17. Puerto Rico

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