IRT 24th Annual Turkey Shootout - Preview

The International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is in action this weekend with the second of back to back events with the 24th Annual Turkey Shootout in Garden City, Kansas. The big news is that IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk is fit to play after missing the last two events due to a recurrence of his pre-existing inner ear condition that can effect his sense of balance and vertigo.

Waselenchuk is in the draw, but IRT #3 Alvaro Beltran and #5 Daniel De La Rosa are not, as the Central American and Caribbean Games will begin in Vasquez, Mexico this weekend. Beltran and De La Rosa will be there representing Mexico.

Overall, the Garden City draw is a small one with just 18 players competing. Thus, it might be a good opportunity for an upset by one of the players who is there. Tony Carson will likely play Waselenchuk in the quarterfinals, and he's taken a game off the #1 in the past. Perhaps he can do more than that in Garden City.

Rocky Carson and Jose Rojas look good to make the semi-finals on the other side of the draw. They've met once this year, when Carson was victorious in three games in St Louis. But Rojas is the last player to defeat Waselenchuk on tour, and would surely like another chance at him this weekend.

Matches will be webcast live via the IRT Network beginning at 10 AM Friday morning with the Round of 16.

24th Annual Turkey Shootout
Garden City, Kansas - November 13-16, 2014

Qualifying Round (with seedings)

Q8 - 16. Jacob Matthews v. 17. Logan Reese
Q7 - 15. Nicholas Riffel v. 18. Scott McClellan

Round of 16

1. Kane Waselenchuk v. Q8
8. Tony Carson v. 9. Matthew Majxner

5. Marco Rojas v. 12. Daeyong Kwon
4. Ben Croft v. 13. Tim Landeryou

3. Jose Rojas v. 14. Bradly Rogers
6. Jansen Allen v. 11. Robert Collins

7. Charlie Pratt v. 10. Jose Diaz
2. Rocky Carson v. Q7

Follow the bouncing ball….