2016 Pan American Championships - Preview

The 2016 Pan American Championships will begin this Saturday, March 19 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Last year Mexico won three of the four events with Paola Longoria taking gold in both Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles with Samantha Salas in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. San Luis Potosi is Longoria’s hometown, so she’ll be extra motivated to win at home. A complete review of last year's results is below.

Mexico didn’t win any medals in Men’s Singles last year, as the final was an all-American affair with Jose Diaz defeating Jake Bredenbeck for the gold, and the bronze medals went to Bolivians
Carlos Keller and Conrrado Moscoso. Mexican veterans Alvaro Beltran and Javier Moreno won gold in Men’s Doubles, but Mexico will not want to be shut out of medals in any event at home this year.

Bredenbeck is again on the USA Team, and is playing both Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles. David Horn is Bredenbeck’s doubles partner, and he’ll also play Men’s Singles too. Rounding out Team USA are veteran Cheryl Gudinas in Women’s Singles with Michelle Key as the other Women’s Singles player and Kelani Bailey, making her USA team debut, will be Key’s doubles partner.

Canada is sending six athletes. Frédérique Lambert and Jennifer Saunders will both play Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles. On the men’s side, Samuel Murray and Mike Green are the Men’s Singles players with Pedro Casto and Tim Landeryou as the Men’s Doubles team.

The competition begins with three days of group play (Saturday to Monday) followed by a rest day (Tuesday) before an elimination draw begins (Wednesday). Results of previous years are used to create the groups, and the group results are used to seed players for the elimination rounds.

The International Racquetball Federation (IRF) has partnered with the World Racquetball Tour (WRT) for streaming of this event, so look for matches to be streamed via the WRT website starting on Thursday March 24.

XXVIII Pan American Racquetball Championships
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - March 28-April 4, 2015
Results Summary

Women's Singles

GOLD - Paola Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER - Veronica Sotomayor (Ecuador)
BRONZE - María José Vargas (Argentina) and Cristina Amaya (Colombia)

Women's Doubles

GOLD - Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas (Mexico)
SILVER - Maria Jose Vargas & Véronique Guillemette (Argentina)
BRONZE - Cristina Amaya & Carolina Gomez (Colombia) and Carola Loma & Adriana Riveros (Bolivia)

Men's Singles

GOLD - Jose Diaz (USA)
SILVER - Jake Bredenbeck (USA)
BRONZE - Carlos Keller (Bolivia) and Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia)

Men's Doubles

GOLD - Alvaro Beltran & Javier Moreno (Mexico)
SILVER - Felipe Camacho & Teobaldo Fumero (Costa Rica)
BRONZE - Luis Perez & Ramon De Leon (Dominican Rep.) and Cesar Castro & Cesar Castillo (Venezuela)

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