IRF 25th World Juniors - Medal Summary

Mexico's performance at the 25th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Racquetball Championships in Sucre, Bolivia was its most dominant ever, as they pulled in 15 medals including 10 gold. But Mexico has been good for some time now, as they've won 11 or more medals every year since 2008.

Bolivia finished second in the medal total with 14, although only one of those was gold. But that was in the premier Boy's U18 singles division, as Conrado Moscoso defeated Mexican Rodrigo Garay in the final. That result made Moscoso front page news in Bolivia, and he's the first Bolivian to win the Boy's U18 World Junior title.

The USA, on the other hand, had a historically low total of three (yes, 3) medals: 1 silver and 2 bronze. That's down from 11 last year and 15 in 2010. The USA were missing two of their Junior Nationals Champions, so that could have made some difference, although it would still be a stretch to imagine them getting up to double digits. We don't think the USA has ever had fewer than 10 medalists at World Juniors.

Four countries - Guatemala, USA, Canada and Costa Rica - had three medals overall, but of them only Guatemala won a gold medal, along with two bronze medals. It's the first time Guatemala has won a gold medal in singles. Canada and Costa Rica both had three bronze medals.

Welcome additions and rumour of next year's site

For the first time, the IRF brought in 11 referees from other countries as well as 20 Bolivians so that all of the World Cup matches, including the group stage matches, were refereed by an adult, not a junior player. The refereeing varied, of course, as it's difficult to judge everything that happens in a racquetball game, but it was a welcome improvement to the event.

Also, the IRF has created software on tablet computers that was used in conjunction with monitors on six of the courts, so that spectators didn't need to wonder what the score was. They just needed to look at the monitor, and everything was there: the score, server, timeouts and appeals used. The link between tablet and monitor was occasionally lost but again it was a welcome addition to the event.

The site for the 2014 World Juniors has not been selected. Rumour was that Cali, Colombia might be the location. For those wondering why the event doesn't go back to the USA, the answer in part is that USA Racquetball would not financially support a local organizations bid for the event. As you can imagine, bringing in those officials as well as other aspects of the event are not cheap, so financial support from the National Sport Organization is important if not essential for hosting the event. That support is currently absent in the USA.

25th IRF World Junior Racquetball Championships
Sucre, Bolivia

BOY'S SINGLES

Boy's U18

GOLD - Conrado Moscoso (Bolivia)
SILVER - Rodrigo Garay (Mexico)
BRONZE - Diego Crespo (Bolivia) & Eduardo Garay (Mexico)

Boy's U16

GOLD - Andree Parrilla (Mexico)
SILVER - Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico)
BRONZE - Coby Iwaasa (Canada) & Marcelo Vargas (Bolivia)

Boy's U14

GOLD - Cristian Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER - Juan Loreto (Mexico)
BRONZE - Andres Avendaño (Bolivia) & Set Cubillos (Colombia)

BOY'S DOUBLES

Boy's U18

GOLD - Rodrigo Garay & Javier Mar (Mexico)
SILVER - Conrado Moscoso & Sebastian Julio Oña (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Sawyer Lloyd & Adam Manilla (USA) and Andres Aviles & Gabriel Garcia (Costa Rica)

Boy's U16

GOLD - Erik Garcia & Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico)
SILVER - Cristhian Mina & Marcelo Vargas (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Hansel Martinez & Juan Jose Salvatierra (Guatemala) and Nicolas Bousquet & Coby Iwaasa (Canada)

Boy's U14

GOLD - Cesar Barragan & Cristian Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER - Andres Avendaño & Rodrigo Mendoza (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Sergio Acuna & Andres Montero (Costa Rica)

Boy's Medal totals

Mexico - 8 Total = 5 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze
Bolivia - 7 = 1, 3, 3
Canada - 2 = 0, 0, 2
Costa Rica - 2 = 0, 0, 2
USA - 1 = 0, 0, 1
Guatemala - 1 = 0, 0, 1
Colombia - 1 = 0, 0, 1

GIRL'S SINGLES

Girl's U18

GOLD - Lucia Gonzalez (Mexico)
SILVER - Mariana Tobon (Venezuela)
BRONZE - Masiel Rivera (Bolivia) & Melania Sauma (Costa Rica)

Girl's U16

GOLD - Diana Aguilar (Mexico)
SILVER - Natalia Mendez (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Luisa Santillan Lahud (Mexico) & Hawira Rojas (Bolivia)

Girl's U14

GOLD - Ana Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala)
SILVER - Erin Rivera (Mexico)
BRONZE - Wanda Carvajal (Bolivia) & Jordan Cooperrider (USA)

GIRL'S DOUBLES

Girl's U18

GOLD - Alexandra Herrera & Ximena Gonzalez (Mexico)
SILVER - Paola Cossio & Masiel Rivera (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Ana Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala)

Girl's U16

GOLD - Diana Aguilar & Montserrat Perez (Mexico)
SILVER - Natalia Mendez & Iriana Avendaño (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Danielle Drury & Michelle Morissette (Canada)

Girl's U14

GOLD - Monserrat Meija & Andrea Ramierez (Mexico)
SILVER - Erika Manilla & Jordan Cooperrider (USA)
BRONZE - Wanda Carvajal & Adriana Homsi (Bolivia)

Girl's Medal totals

Mexico - 7 Total = 5 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Bolivia - 7 = 0, 3, 4
Guatemala - 2 = 1, 0, 1
USA - 2 = 0, 1, 1
Canada - 1 = 0, 0, 1
Costa Rica - 1 = 0, 0, 1
Venezuela - 1 = 0, 1, 0

Overall Medal Totals

Mexico - 15 Total = 10 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze
Bolivia - 14 = 1, 6, 7
Guatemala - 3 = 1, 0, 2
USA - 3 = 0, 1, 2
Canada - 3 = 0, 0, 3
Costa Rica - 3 = 0, 0, 3
Venezuela - 1 = 0, 1, 0
Colombia - 1 = 0, 0, 1

Follow the bouncing ball....