Doubles draws for the 20th IRF World Championships

The Men’s and Women’s Doubles draws are out for the medal round of the 20th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It’s a bit disappointing on the men’s side, as the teams that played each other on Monday in the group stage are favoured to meet again in the quarterfinals. That’s a bit boring, and also it can be tricky to beat the same team twice, when the teams are evenly matched, and three of the four Monday matches were close - two tie-breakers and a match where the difference was five points over two games.

Of course, with a relatively small number of teams, there can be some repetition in matches from group stage to medal stage, but for the higher seeded teams their first medal round match will likely be against the team they played on Monday. Moreover, some teams may play just three matches in Guatemala with two of those matches being against the same opponent.

Two quarters in Women’s Doubles will potentially be the same as in the group stage. Argentina's Valeria Centellas and Natalia Mendez may face Canada again, although Canadians Alexis Iwaasa and Frédérique Lambert will need to defeat Colombians Cristina Amaya and Maria Paz Riquelme first to make that happen.

The top seeded Mexican team of Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas could have a replay with Chileans Carla Muñoz and Paula Mansilla in the quarters, although Chile needs to first get past Ireland’s Katie Kenny and Antonia Neary.

Look for some of the matches to be live streamed from Guatemala. Check with the IRF website or their social media outlets (IRF on Facebook and @IRFRacquetball on Twitter) for updates.

20th IRF World Championships
November 29-December 6 - Guatemala City, Guatemala

Men's Doubles - Thursday

Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico) - BYE
Gabriel Garro & Felipe Segreda (Costa Rica) v. Ken Cottrell & Eoin Tynan (Ireland) - 4 PM

Juan Francisco Cueva & Jose Daniel Ugalde (Ecuador) v. Edwin Galicia & Christen Wer (Guatemala) - 4 PM
Alejandro Landa & Charlie Pratt (USA) - BYE

Coby Iwaasa & Samuel Murray (Canada) - BYE
Roland Keller & Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia) v. Lee Gunhee & Kim Mingyu (South Korea) - 4 PM

Set Cubillos & Mario Mercado (Colombia) v. Rafael Gatica & Rodrigo Salgado (Chile) - 4 PM
Diego Garcia & Shai Manzuri (Argentina) - BYE

Women's Doubles  - Thursday

Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas (Mexico) - BYE
Carla Muñoz & Paula Mansilla (Chile) v. Katie Kenny & Antonia Neary (Ireland) - 5 PM

Maria Renee Rodriguez & Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala) - BYE
Maria Paz Muñoz & Ana Lucia Sarmiento (Ecuador) - BYE

Angelica Barrios & Micaela Meneses (Bolivia) - BYE
Erika Manilla & Rhonda Rajsich (USA) - BYE

Frédérique Lambert & Alexis Iwaasa (Canada) v. Cristina Amaya & Maria Paz Riquelme (Colombia) - 5 PM
Valeria Centellas & Natalia Mendez (Argentina) - BYE

Follow the bouncing ball....