IRF 25th World Juniors - Near Mexico sweep in Boy's Singles

Five of the six finalists in Boy's U18, U16 and U14 are Mexican, so they'll have a good chance to sweep the gold in the Boy's competitions at the 25th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Racquetball Championships in Sucre, Bolivia with gold assured in U16 and U14, as those are both all Mexico finals.

Conrado Moscoso prevented a Mexican sweep, as the 2nd seed in Boy's U18 defeated Mexican Eduardo Garay in the semi-finals, 15-9, 15-14, on Friday.

Moscosa will face another Garay in the final, as 8th seed Rodrigo Garay of Mexico defeated Bolivian Diego Crespo, 15-6, 9-15, 11-10, in the other semi.

Both of the top seeds in Boy's U16 lost to Mexicans in the semi-finals. Fourth seed Andree Parrilla beat Canadian Coby Iwaasa, 15-5, 15-6, and sixth seed Rodrigo Montoya defeated second seed Marcelo Vargas of Bolivia, 15-13, 15-5.

Parrilla used mostly drive Z serves against Iwaasa, the defending U16 World Junior Champion, and it was very effective, as Iwaasa never really got on track in the match.

It seemed like it might come together for the Canadian in the middle of game two, although Parrilla still led at 8-3 after Iwaasa had score a couple of consecutive points. That led Parrilla to switch to the backhand lob serve tight to the left wall, which he used effectively against Iwaasa earlier this month in the final of Men's Open at the US Open in Minneapolis - a match Parrilla won in a tie-breaker.

Parrilla got two points to make the score 11-3 and cause Iwaasa to call a time out. Iwaasa did get a few more points, but never really threatened Parrilla who won the match with a good drive serve to the right - the first time he'd done that serve all match, as Iwaasa's forehand return skipped. That rally was indicative of the match.

The top seed in Boy's U14 also lost and also to a Mexican, as 4th seed Juan Loreto defeated top seed Andres Avendaño of Bolivia, 15-11, 11-15, 11-0. Loreto will face teammate and 2nd seed Cristian Longoria in the final after Longoria beat 3rd seed Set Cubillos of Colombia in the other semi-final, 15-14, 15-3.

There is live streaming of matches from Sucre via the IRF website.

25th IRF World Junior Racquetball Championships
Sucre, Bolivia

Boy's U18 Singles (with seedings)

Semi-finals

8. Rodrigo Garay (Mexico) d. 4. Diego Crespo (Bolivia), 15-6, 9-15, 11-10
2. Conrado Moscoso (Bolivia) d. 6. Eduardo Garay (Mexico), 15-9, 15-14

Final

2. Conrado Moscoso (Bolivia) v. 8. Rodrigo Garay (Mexico)

Boy's U16 Singles (with seedings)

Semi-finals

4. Andree Parrilla (Mexico) d. 1. Coby Iwaasa (Canada), 15-5, 15-6
6. Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico) d. 2. Marcelo Vargas (Bolivia), 15-13, 15-5

Final

4. Andree Parrilla (Mexico) v. 6. Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico)

Boy's U14 Singles (with seedings)

Semi-finals

4. Juan Loreto (Mexico) d. 1. Andres Avendaño (Bolivia), 15-11, 11-15, 11-0
2. Cristian Longoria (Mexico) d. 3. Set Cubillos (Colombia), 15-14, 15-3

Final

2. Cristian Longoria (Mexico) v. 4. Juan Loreto (Mexico)

Follow the bouncing ball....