XXXI Pan American Championships Preview

The XXXI Pan American Championships will begin on Saturday in Temuco, Chile. This the second time these championships have been in Temuco and fourth time they’ve been in Chile. They were last there in 2012, when Paola Longoria of Mexico won both Women’s Singles and Doubles with Samantha Salas with Mike Green of Canada winning Men’s Singles and Bolivians Roland Keller and Ricardo Monroy winning Men’s Doubles. That’s the only time a South American team has won Men’s Doubles at Pan Am Championships.

Last year in Costa Rica, Longoria and Salas also won Women’s Doubles, and they will be in Temuco, but will not defend that title, because Longoria and Alexandra Herrera are the Mexican Women’s Doubles team (Salas will be the second player in Women’s Singles), which is a surprising change given the considerable success Longoria and Salas have had. They’ve won gold five times at the Pan American Championships, gold three times at the World Championships, and gold twice at the Pan American Games. Changing such a successful team is puzzling.

Rhonda Rajsich, the American veteran, won Women’s Singles last year by upsetting Longoria in the final. It was a surprise win considering Longoria had won gold at 10 consecutive international events dating back to the 2011 Pan American Championships. That span included four of the previous five Pan Am Championships (she was absent in 2014), as well as on three occasions before that. Her seven Pan Am Championship Women’s Singles titles are the most ever followed by USA players Michelle Gould and Cheryl Gudinas, who have four each; Rajsich has three.

While Mexico didn’t win Women’s Singles last year, they won the other three divisions: Alejandro Landa won Men’s Singles, and teamed up with Polo Gutierrez to win Men’s Doubles, as well as Longoria and Salas’s win in Women’s Doubles. It’s possible Mexico will do that again, or even sweep the gold as they did in 2016.

The International Racquetball Federation (IRF) announced the Mexican team will be Alvaro Beltran, Rodrigo Montoya and Andree Parrilla. At the Mexican qualifying event, Daniel De La Rosa won Men’s Doubles with Beltran and was second in Men’s Singles to Montoya, but De La Rosa may have declined to play. Thus, their team in Men’s Doubles could be Beltran and Parrilla, who’s coming off his first win on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT).

The USA will be represented by four players who will play both singles and doubles. The team will be led by Rajsich, who will once again wear USA on her back, and will team with Janel Tisinger in doubles. Rajsich and Tisinger have won gold at Pan Am Championships, and have done so in Chile, though in Santiago in 2007. Rasjich will be representing the USA for the 23rd time with Tisinger making her 5th appearance on the team.

David Horn will make his 6th appearance on the USA, and he’s in form, coming off his 1st IRT final, which he lost to Parrilla. Horn was runner up in Men’s Doubles last year with Jake Bredenbeck. He’ll try to go one better this year with Thomas Carter as his partner. Carter is making his first appearance on Team USA.

The Canadian team is a mix of veterans and rookies. In the veteran category is Jennifer Saunders, who’ll play Women’s Singles, as well as Pedro Castro (Women’s Singles), Michèle Morissette (Women’s Doubles), Samuel Murray (Men’s Doubles) and Christine Richardson (Women’s Doubles). The rookies are Nicolas Bousquet, who’ll play doubles with Murray, Alexis Iwaasa, who’ll play Women’s Singles, and Trevor Webb, who’ll play Men’s Singles. This is the first event Canada has had new players since 2014, when Castro, Murray and Morissette all made their debuts.

There will be several good players from other Central and South American countries in Temuco, including Argentina's Natalia Mendez and Maria José Vargas, Cristina Amaya and Adriana Riveros of Colombia, Carla Muñoz of Chile, Bolivians Conrrado Moscoso, Roland Keller, Carlos Keller and Jenny Daza, Gabriela Martinez and Maria Renee Rodriguez of Guatemala and Andres Acuña of Costa Rica.

XXX Pan American Racquetball Championships
San Jose, Costa Rica - April 8-15, 2017

Women's Singles

Gold - Rhonda Rajsich (USA)
Silver - Paola Longoria (Mexico)
Bronze - Samantha Salas (Mexico), Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala)

Women's Doubles

Gold - Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas (Mexico)
Silver - Maria Paz Muñoz & Veronica Sotomayor (Ecuador)
Bronze - Sheryl Lotts & Rhonda Rajsich (USA), Andrea Martinez & Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala)

Men's Singles

Gold - Alejandro Landa (Mexico)
Silver - Charlie Pratt (USA)
Bronze - Andres Acuña (Costa Rica), Javier Mar (Mexico)

Men's Doubles

Gold - Polo Gutierrez & Alejandro Landa (Mexico)
Silver - Jake Bredenbeck & David Horn (USA)
Bronze - Ramon De Leon & Luis Perez (Dominican Republic), Roland Keller & Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia)

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