2015 Pan American Championships - Preview

The XXVIII Pan American Racquetball Championships begin Saturday in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and will be used as one of the seeding events for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto this July. Thus, it's an important event, and the defending team champions from Mexico have brought all their big guns.

The Mexican team will be Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas playing both Women's Singles and Women's Doubles, and Daniel De La Rosa playing Men's Singles with Alvaro Beltran playing both Men's Singles and Men's Doubles and Javier Moreno playing Men's Doubles.

In contrast the USA Racquetball has sent a younger team with David Horn, Anthony Herrera playing Men's Doubles, Jake Bredenbeck and Jose Diaz Men's Singles, and veteran Rhonda Rajsich playing Women's Singles with Da'monique Davis and Women's Doubles with Sheryl Lotts.

The Canadian team is mixture of veterans and young players. Representing Canada are Mike Green and Vincent Gagnon in Men's Doubles, Pedro Castro and Samuel Murray in Men's Singles with Michèle Morissette playing Women's Singles, Jennifer Saunders playing both Women's Singles and Doubles and Christine Richardson playing Women's Doubles.

Other players in Santo Domingo include Maria Jose Vargas (Argentina), Cristina Amaya (Colombia) and Conrado Moscoso (Bolivia).

Tournament format is three days of preliminary group play followed by an elimination round. Tournament action begins on Saturday.

Here's a rundown of who won last year.

XXVII Pan American Racquetball Championships
Santa Cruz, Bolivia - April 12-19, 2014

Women's Singles

GOLD - Maria Jose Vargas (Argentina)
SILVER - Susana Acosta (Mexico)
BRONZE - Samantha Salas Solis (Mexico) and Cristina Amaya (Colombia)

Women's Doubles

GOLD - Susana Acosta & Samantha Salas Solis (Mexico)
SILVER - Maria Jose Vargas & Véronique Guillemette (Argentina)
BRONZE - Frédérique Lambert & Josée Grand'Maître (Canada) and Veronica Sotomayor & Maria Paz Muñoz (Ecuador)

Men's Singles

GOLD - Jose Rojas (USA)
SILVER - Andree Parrilla (Mexico)
BRONZE - Polo Gutierrez (Mexico) and Vincent Gagnon (Canada)

Men's Doubles

GOLD - Daniel De La Rosa & Edson Martinez (Mexico)
SILVER - Jose Rojas & David Horn (USA)
BRONZE - Ricardo Monroy & Roland Keller (Bolivia) and Daniel Maggi & Shai Mazuri (Argentina)

Women's Team

GOLD - Mexico
SILVER - Argentina
BRONZE - Canada
4th - Ecuador

Men's Team

GOLD - Mexico
SILVER - USA
BRONZE - Bolivia
4th - Canada

Combined Team

GOLD - Mexico
SILVER - USA
BRONZE - Argentina
4th - Canada

Follow the bouncing ball....