Early results from 2023 IRT Rally for our Warriors

The International Racquetball Tour’s (IRT’s) Rally for our Warriors tournament began Thursday in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Kane Waselenchuk, former IRT #1 is in the draw for just the second time since suffering an Achilles injury last fall. People have asked us more about Waselenchuk since then than anything else, and while we could speculate about how he’s doing, actions can speak louder than words.

That’s just Kane Waselenchuk doing Kane Waselenchuk things.

Waselenchuk defeated 11th seed Robert Collins, 15-5, 15-5, in a battle of lefties in the Round of 32, and then brushed aside another lefty in 6th seed Adam Manilla, 15-2, 15-4, in the Round of 16. He’ll face 3rd seed Conrrado Moscoso in the quarterfinals, who’ll surely score more than 10 points on Waselenchuk, right?

Right?

Moscoso defeated Carlos Ramirez in the 16s, 15-7, 15-12, to reach the quarterfinals.

In other matches, Andrés Acuña got through a close match with Alan Natera, winning 15-13, 15-13. He was down 7-0 to Natera in game one, but came back to pull that out. Natera was undeterred and put up another battle in game two, although that again fell just short.

In the quarterfinals, Acuña will play IRT #1 Daniel De La Rosa, who beat Rafael Gatica in the 16s, 15-8, 15-1.

Also in the quarters, 4th seed Rodrigo Montoya will play 5th seed Andree Parrilla. In the 16s, Rodrigo Montoya beat 13th seed Erick Trujillo, 15-5, 15-2, and Parrilla defeated 12th seed Erick Cuevas Fernandez, 15-1, 15-7.

It’s a Saturday final this week, so there will be the Round of 16 and quarterfinals on Friday from 4 PM on, and then the semi-finals at 11 AM and noon Saturday with the final at 6 PM. You can see some of the IRT action via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page. All times Eastern.

2023 IRT Rally for our Warriors
Marlborough, Massachusetts, November 9-11, 2023

IRT Singles - Round of 32 - Thursday

1) Daniel De La Rosa - BYE
17) Rafael Gatica d. 16) Axel Barojas, 13-15, 15-4, 11-2

9) Alan Natera - BYE
8) Andrés Acuña - BYE

5) Andree Parrilla - BYE
12) Erick Cuevas Fernandez d. 21) Jack Goldberg, forfeit

13) Erick Trujillo d. 20) Alok Mehta, 15-4, 15-7
4) Rodrigo Montoya - BYE

3) Conrrado Moscoso - BYE
14) Carlos Ramirez d. 19) Abraham Cardenas, 15-2, 15-7

22) Kane Waselenchuk d. 11) Robert Collins, 15-5, 15-5
6) Adam Manilla - BYE

7) Samuel Murray - BYE
10) Thomas Carter - BYE

18) Jose Flores, Jr. d. 15) Jim Douglas, 15-8, 15-2
2) Jake Bredenbeck - BYE

IRT Singles - Round of 16 - Friday

1) Daniel De La Rosa d. 17) Rafael Gatica, 15-8, 15-1
8) Andrés Acuña d. 9) Alan Natera, 15-13, 15-13

5) Andree Parrilla d. 12) Erick Cuevas Fernandez, 15-1, 15-7
4) Rodrigo Montoya d. 13) Erick Trujillo, 15-5, 15-2

3) Conrrado Moscoso d. 14) Carlos Ramirez, 15-7, 15-12
22) Kane Waselenchuk d. 6) Adam Manilla, 15-2, 15-4

7) Samuel Murray d. 10) Thomas Carter, 8-15, 15-5, 11-4
2) Jake Bredenbeck d. 18) Jose Flores, Jr., 15-9, 15-2

IRT Singles - Quarterfinals - Friday

1) Daniel De La Rosa v. 8) Andrés Acuña - 4 PM
5) Andree Parrilla v. 4) Rodrigo Montoya - 5 PM

3) Conrrado Moscoso v. 22) Kane Waselenchuk - 6 PM
2) Jake Bredenbeck v. 7) Samuel Murray - 7 PM

Follow the bouncing ball….

Medal summary for 2023 Pan American Games

The racquetball competition of the 2023 Pan American Games concluded two weeks ago in Santiago, Chile, so it’s way past time for us to summarize what all happened in Chile. Four nations took home gold medals, which was twice as many as in the last games. The addition of Mixed Doubles meant there was one more racquetball event than at any other games, so there were more medals to win. Nonetheless, the overall results show how competitive racquetball has become. It’s a long way from the 1990s Pan American Games, when the USA swept gold and Canada took most of the silver.

Bolivia won two gold medals in Santiago, which was one better than they did four years ago in Lima, Peru, where they won gold in the Men’s Team event. They successfully defended that medal, and added another when Conrrado Moscoso defeated his team-mate Carlos Keller in the Men’s Singles final.

Bolivia got three other medals: Keller got silver in Men’s Singles, Moscoso and Angelica Barrios got bronze in Mixed Doubles and Barrios also got bronze in Women’s Doubles. Those five medals were all the medals that Team Bolivia, as a whole, took home from Santiago.

Mexico topped the medal table for the fourth consecutive games, getting three gold, one silver and five bronze medals. Also for the fourth consecutive games, Paola Longoria won gold in Women’s Singles defeating her team-mate, and perhaps heir apparent, Montserrat Mejia. Longoria, 34, was quoted as saying she was uncertain whether she would play in another Pan Am Games, but her record at the games has been impeccable.

Mexicans Javier Mar and Rodrigo Montoya successfully defended their Men’s Doubles gold medal from four years ago, beating Canadians Coby Iwaasa and Samuel Murray in the final. That was Canada’s first Pan Am Games final since 2003, when Mike Green was in the Men’s Singles final.

Mexico’s third gold medal was in the Women’s Team event, which they have won each time since team events were re-introduced at Pan Am Games in 2011. The final against Argentina came down to the third match, which was doubles with Alexandra Herrera and Mejia defeating Natalia Mendez and Maria Jose Vargas.

Vargas looked distraught on the podium during the Women’s Team event medal ceremony. However, it was her 4th medal from the games - two silver and two bronze, which were more than anyone else earned. But none of them were gold.

At international events, when closely matched players or doubles teams play each other in the individual events and then again in the team event often the matches will be split. Mendez and Vargas beat Herrera and Mejia in the Women’s Doubles semi-final, but lost in the re-match in the team event. Similarly, Mexicans Mar and Montoya beat Canadians Iwaasa and Murray in the Men’s Doubles final, but in the Men’s Team event semi-finals, the Canadians won.

Finally, the first Pan American Games Mixed Doubles gold medal went to American siblings Adam Manilla and Erika Manilla, but it wasn’t the first time siblings had won gold at the Pan Ams. American twin sisters Joy MacKenzie and Jackie Paraiso won Women’s Doubles gold twice: in 1995, the first time racquetball was in the games, and again in 1999.

Matches on replay

You can watch some of the finals from Santiago via the Pan Am Sports Channel. The production was very good, although the commentary not always so good. Still it’s worth watching.

The 2027 Pan American Games will be Barranquilla, Colombia. Barranquilla was the site of the 2019 Pan American Championships, so there are racquetball courts there. Thus, we are hopeful that racquetball will once again be included in the Pan American Games.

2023 Pan American Games - Medal Summary
Santiago, Chile

Country - Gold - Silver - Bronze - Total

1. Mexico - 3 - 1 - 5 = 9
2. Bolivia - 2 - 1 - 2 = 5
3. Independent Athletes - 1 - 0 - 2 = 3
3. USA - 1 - 0 - 2 = 3
5. Argentina - 0 - 3 - 1 = 3
6. Canada - 0 - 2 - 0 = 2
7. Costa Rica - 0 - 0 - 2 = 2

Men’s Singles

GOLD - Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia)
SILVER - Carlos Keller (Bolivia)
BRONZE - Eduardo Portillo (Mexico), Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico)

Women’s Singles

GOLD - Paola Longoria (Mexico)
SILVER - Montserrat Mejia (Mexico)
BRONZE - Maricruz Ortiz (Costa Rica), Maria José Vargas (Argentina)

Men’s Doubles

GOLD - Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico)
SILVER - Coby Iwaasa & Samuel Murray (Canada)
BRONZE - Andrés Acuña & Gabriel Garcia (Costa Rica), Edwin Galicia & Juan Salvatierra (EAI)

Women’s Doubles

GOLD - Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez (EAI)

SILVER - Natalia Mendez & Maria José Vargas (Argentina)
BRONZE - Angelica Barrios & Jenny Daza (Bolivia), Alexandra Herrera & Montserrat Mejia (Mexico)

Mixed Doubles

GOLD - Adam Manilla & Erica Manilla (USA)
SILVER - Diego Garcia & Maria José Vargas (Argentina)
BRONZE - Paola Longoria & Eduardo Portillo (Mexico), Angelica Barrios & Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia)

Men’s Team

GOLD - Bolivia - Carlos Keller, Conrrado Moscoso, Kadim Carrasco
SILVER - Canada - Coby Iwaasa, Samuel Murray
BRONZE - Mexico - Javier Mar, Rodrigo Montoya, Edurardo Portillo
BRONZE - USA - Daniel De La Rosa, Alejandro Landa, Adam Manilla

Women’s Team

GOLD - Mexico - Montserrat Mejia, Paola Longoria, Alexandra Herrera
SILVER - Argentina - Maria José Vargas, Natalia Mendez
BRONZE - USA - Michelle Key, Erika Manilla
BRONZE - Independent Athletes - Gabriela Martinez, Maria Renee Rodriguez

Follow the bouncing ball....

Two successful team title defences at the 2023 Pan American Games

It was a day of successful defences Thursday at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, as the men’s and women’s team winners from four years ago in Lima, Peru, won gold again in Santiago. Bolivia won the Men’s Team title in two straight matches over Canada, and Mexico won the Women’s Team title over Argentina, although they needed three matches to do it. That was Mexico’s fourth straight Women’s Team title, and Argentina was runner up to them for a second consecutive time.

In the first match of the men’s final, Bolivian Carlos Keller and Canadian Coby Iwaasa went toe to toe over five games with Keller coming back from 2-1 down to eke out the victory by the smallest of margins: 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11. Keller switched to lob serving to the left side - Iwaasa’s backhand - in game four, which changed the tempo of the match and helped him win that game.

In the breaker, Iwassa had the early lead at 5-2, but Keller tied it at 5-5. They were back and forth from there, tied at 6-6 and 7-7. Then Keller went ahead, and although Iwaasa tied it again at 10-10, fighting off match point at 10-9 and 11-10, he never got a chance to serve for match himself. Keller ended the match on the third time of asking with a backhand winner.

Conrrado Moscoso and Samuel Murray squared off in the second match of the final, and Moscoso carried most of the play, winning 11-5, 11-9, 11-2. Murray didn’t have his A game, which was partly due to Moscoso, but the Bolivian wasn’t really pressured by the Canadian.

The exception was late in game two, when Murray fought off three games points to go from 10-6 down to 10-9, with that last point coming from a Moscoso skipped shot. It seemed like Murray might pull out that game, but on the next rally the referee called an avoidable hinder against him, as Moscoso was trying to get position for a shot in centre court. Murray appealed the call, which seemed like a harsh but not wrong situation, and after reviewing the video of the play, the referee maintained his original call, which ended game two in Moscoso’s favour.

Game three wasn’t close. Moscoso got the first two points of the game. Murray tied it at 2-2, and then Moscoso scored nine unanswered points to end the game and win gold for Bolivia.

Despite the loss, Iwaasa and Murray earn a second Pan Am Games silver medal (their first was in Men's Doubles on Tuesday), which gives them more silver medals than any other Canadian male racquetball player. They are the first silver medals in the men's team event since 1995, and the first silver in any event since 2003, when Mike Green got silver in Men’s Singles.

Women’s Final

There’s a bit of a “what might have been?” question about the 3rd match of the women’s final. But first, Argentina’s Maria José Vargas came out strong in the opening match of the final ousting Mexican Montserrat Mejia in three straight games, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9. Vargas looked great in the match, clearly up for it, and had lots of energy. Mejia didn’t have as much energy as she usually does, but Vargas’s play likely had something to do with that.

Mexican Paola Longoria then evened the final by beating Natalia Mendez, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, in the second match of the final. Mendez was ahead briefly in the middle of game two, and they were close throughout game three, but it always seemed like Longoria was going to win.

Her win forced a deciding third match, which was doubles: Mendez and Vargas versus Mejia and Alexandra Herrera. As in her singles match, Vargas looked up for it. She and Mendez stormed out to a 8-2 lead in game one.

But the Mexicans got some points, and then some more points, and fought off four games points to go from 10-6 down to tied at 10-10 following a Mejia forehand reverse pinch winner. Argentina had called their timeout just before that, but didn’t win ensuing rally.

Mexico pushed on to win 14-12 with their last four points coming from skipped shots by Argentina. It was a shocking comeback, as Mexico really had no business even being close in the game let alone winning it.

That turnaround seemed to take the air out of Argentina’s sails, and put it in Mexico’s, as Mexico took a 6-0 lead in game two. To their credit Argentina did get back to within one point at 7-6, but after Mexico took a timeout, they came back to win game two 11-7.

The teams were close early in game three, and tied at 4-4. Mexico took the lead at 8-4, which put the writing on the wall. They finished the saga by taking the game 11-5, the match in the three straight games, the final two matches to one, and with it the Women’s Team gold medal.

Yet one has to wonder what would have happened if Argentina had won that first game? That might have led to a different outcome.

Vargas was clearly upset about the actual outcome. When they came out for the medal ceremony, she had her hands in her pockets, had obviously been crying and looked like she would rather be anywhere else but on that podium. The contrast between that and the happy, energetic person who played the first game of the final could not be more stark.

Many racquetball players felt the thrill of victory during the 2023 Pan American Games, but some felt the agony of defeat.

2023 Pan American Games - Santiago, Chile

Men’s Team - Final - Thursday

2) Bolivia d. 4) Canada, 2-0

Carlos Keller d. Coby Iwaasa, 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11
Conrrado Moscoso d. Samuel Murray, 11-5, 11-9, 11-2

Women’s Team - Final - Thursday

1) Mexico d. 2) Argentina, 2-1

Maria José Vargas d. Montserrat Mejia, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9
Paola Longoria d. Natalia Mendez, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9
Alexandra Herrera & Montserrat Mejia d. Natalia Mendez & Maria José Vargas, 14-12, 11-7, 11-5

Follow the bouncing ball....