Preview of 29th IRF World Junior Racquetball Championships

The 29th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Racquetball Championships will begin Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There are 13 countries represented this year. Mexico, Bolivia and USA have been the countries to beat the last few year's, and we expect that to be the case this year as well.

The competition has three days of group play (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) that will be used to seed players for a playoff round of competition that will begin on Wednesday. The finals will be next Saturday.

One of the players to watch will be Guatemala's Gabriela Martinez, who has won six gold medals at World Juniors, and will be playing her first year of U18. Her biggest competition could come from Jordan Cooperrider (USA) and Maria Jose Munoz (Ecuador), who were the bronze medalists in U18 last year, as well as Mexicans Montserrat Mejia and Erin Rivera.

In Boy's U18, Set Cubillos of Colombia is the only medalist from last year in the field this year. But Eduardo Portillo of Mexico, who won gold in U16 last year, is playing U18 this year, as is his team-mate Gerardo Franco. Also, Mauro Rojas of the USA should be a strong contender for the podium as well.

The IRF will be streaming some of the live from Minneapolis, so check out the IRF YouTube channel and their page on Facebook.

Here's a rundown of last year's World Junior results.

28th IRF World Junior Racquetball Championships
San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Girl's U18 Singles

GOLD: Erika Manilla (USA)
SILVER: Melania Sauma (Costa Rica)
BRONZE: Jordan Cooperrider (USA) and Maria Jose Munoz (Ecuador)

Boy's U18 Singles

GOLD: Cristian Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER: Cristhian Miña (Bolivia)
BRONZE: Wayne Antone (USA) and Set Cubillos (Colombia)

Girl's U16 Singles

GOLD: Ana Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala)
SILVER: Monserrat Mejia (Mexico)
BRONZE: Alexis Iwaasa (Canada) and Andrea Ramirez (Mexico)

Boy's U16 Singles

GOLD: Eduardo Portillo (Mexico)
SILVER: Sebastian Fernandez (Mexico)
BRONZE: Gerson Miranda (Bolivia) and Fernando Ruiz (Bolivia)

Girl's U14 Singles

GOLD: Romina Rivero (Bolivia)
SILVER: Delia Aguilar (Mexico)
BRONZE: Valeria Centellas (Bolivia) and Guadalupe Griffin (Mexico)

Boy's U14 Singles

GOLD: Diego Garcia (Bolivia)
SILVER: Jose Ramos (Mexico)
BRONZE: Sebastian Longoria (Mexico) and Felipe Cardona (Colombia)

Girl's U18 Doubles

GOLD: Gabriela Martinez & Andrea Martinez (Guatemala)
SILVER: Jordan Cooperrider & Erika Manilla (USA)
BRONZE: Mariel Morales & Erin Rivera (Mexico) and Brenda Laime & Flavia Meneses (Bolivia)

Boy's U18 Doubles

GOLD: Gerardo Franco & Cristian Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER: Jake Birnel & Mauro Rojas (USA)
BRONZE: Prado Mendoza & Cristhian Miña (Bolivia) and Christian Chavez & Jorge Ochoa (Ecuador)

Girl's U16 Doubles

GOLD: Ana Laura Flores & Monserrat Mejia (Mexico)
SILVER: Briana Jacquet & Ingrid Robledo (USA)
BRONZE: Alexis Iwaasa (Canada) & Marjolaine Parent (Canada)

Boy's U16 Doubles

GOLD: Eduardo Portillo & Rodrigo Rodriguez (Mexico)
SILVER: Fernando Ruiz & Bernardo Valencia (Bolivia)
BRONZE: Sergio Acuña & Pablo Freer (Costa Rica) and Johan Adasme & Ari Weissbrot (Chile)

Girl's U14 Doubles

GOLD: Valeria Centellas & Romina Rivero (Bolivia)
SILVER: Guadalupe Griffin & Valeria Hernandez (Mexico)
BRONZE: Sofia Freer & Maricruz Ortiz (Costa Rica) and Nathalia Pinero & Ana Lucia Sarmiento (Ecuador)

Boy's U14 Doubles

GOLD: Martin Martinez & Jose Ramos (Mexico)
SILVER: Roberto Arellano & Diego Garcia (Bolivia)
BRONZE: Ian Frattinger & Sean Sauvé (Canada) and Juan Flores & Esteban Jano (Ecuador)

Team Medals
Girls Teams

GOLD: Mexico
SILVER: USA
BRONZE: Bolivia

Boys Teams

GOLD: Mexico
SILVER: Bolivia
BRONZE: USA

Overall Teams

GOLD: Mexico
SILVER: Bolivia
BRONZE: USA

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