IRF World Junior Championships

The 27th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Racquetball Championships are in full swing in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. World Juniors is an annual event. The tournament began Sunday with the first of three days of pool play. Those results will seed all the players into a single elimination draw that begins Wednesday.

There will be live streaming of the event from Santo Domingo beginning on Thursday via the IRF website.

One fun aspect of World Juniors this year is that four continents are represented: North and South America, of course, but also Europe and Asia with teams from Ireland and South Korea.

South Korea has three players, two boys and a girl, while Ireland has several players competing.

In the U18 divisions, the players to watch for are Mexicans Andree Parrilla and Rodrigo Montoya on the Boy's side, as well as Canadian Nicolas Bousquet and Colombian Set Cubillos. On the Girl's side, Mexican Montserrat Meija, American Lexi York and Bolivian Natalia Mendez are likely the players to beat.

The elimination round draws will be finalized after the end of the group matches in each division. For each division there are two possibilities for the elimination round, so players cannot know for sure where they will end up in the elimination draw unless they are the #1 or #2 seeds. Everyone else could be on the top or the bottom of the draw.

A random process is used to determine which draw format is used for each division with representatives from each country witnessing the selection process.

We'll have the elimination round draws for you later today. In the meantime, here's a review of who was on the podium last year in Cali, Colombia.

26th IRF World Junior Racquetball Championships
Cali, Colombia

Boy's U18 Singles

GOLD - Mario Mercado (Bolivia)
SILVER - Conrado Moscoso (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Coby Iwaasa (Canada) & Andres Acuña (Costa Rica)

Boy's U16 Singles

GOLD - Cristian Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER - Cristhian Mina (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Mauro Rojas (USA) & Christian Chavez (Ecuador)

Boy's U14 Singles

GOLD - Jordan Barth (USA)
SILVER - Andres Montero (Costa Rica)
BRONZE - Eduardo Portillo (Mexico) & Mario Ruiz (Mexico)

Boy's U18 Doubles

GOLD - Erik Garcia & Francisco Mar (Mexico)
SILVER - Sawyer Lloyd & Adam Manilla (USA)
BRONZE - Andres Aviles & Pablo Sauma (Costa Rica) & Conrado Moscoso & Mario Mercado (Bolivia)

Boy's U16 Doubles

GOLD - Jordy Alonso & Cristian Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER - Jordan Barth & Justus Benson (USA)
BRONZE - Christian Chavez & Juan Francisco Cueva (Ecuador) & Alexander Pirie & Jose Ubilla (Costa Rica)

Boy's U14 Doubles

GOLD - Santiago Garcia & Eduardo Portillo (Mexico)
SILVER - Julian Homberger & Andres Montero (Costa Rica)
BRONZE - Simon Comeau & Chris Culhane (Canada) & David Cordoba & Gerson Miranda (Bolivia)

Girl's U18 Singles

GOLD - Alexandra Herrera (Mexico)
SILVER - Lucia Gonzalez (Mexico)
BRONZE - Natalia Mendez (Bolivia) & Lexi York (USA)

Girl's U16 Singles

GOLD - Diana Aguilar (Mexico)
SILVER - Melania Sauma (Costa Rica)
BRONZE - Hawira Rojas (Bolivia) & Jordan Cooperrider (USA)

Girl's U14 Singles

GOLD - Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala)
SILVER - Wanda Carvajal (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Ana Laura Flores (Mexico) & Monserrat Mejia (Mexico)

Girl's U18 Doubles

GOLD - Ximena Gonzalez & Alexandra Herrera (Mexico)
SILVER - Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala)
BRONZE - Merinanllely Delgado & Maria Cespedes (Dominican Rep.) & Danielle Drury & Michèle Morissette (Canada)

Girl's U16 Doubles

GOLD - Melania Sauma & Sofia Soley (Costa Rica)
SILVER - Diana Aguilar & Ana Sofia Gasca (Mexico)
BRONZE - Jordan Cooperrider & Erika Manilla (USA) & Alexandra Murray & Jewel Sauvé (Canada)

Girl's U14 Doubles

GOLD - Monserrat Mejia & Andrea Ramirez (Mexico)
SILVER - Wanda Carvajal & Adriana Homsi (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Alejandra Jimenez Castillo & Rodaliza Perdomo (Dominican Rep.) & Maria Jose Munoz & Ivana Sempertegui (Ecuador)

MEDAL COUNTS BY COUNTRY

Mexico - 8 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze = 14 Overall
Bolivia - 1 G, 4 S, 4 B = 9
Costa Rica - 1 G, 3 S, 3 B = 7
USA - 1 G, 2 S, 4 B = 7
Guatemala - 1 G, 1 S, 0 B = 2
Canada - 0 G, 0 S, 4 B = 4
Ecuador - 0 G, 0 S, 3 B = 3
Dominican Republic - 0 G, 0 S, 2 B = 2

Follow the bouncing ball....