The team events concluded the racquetball competition at the 2026 Central American & Caribbean Games (CACGs) on Saturday in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Once again, Mexico won both the Men’s and Women’s Team events, as they have in every CACG since 1990. In the Men’s Team competition, Mexico beat Costa Rica in the final in two straight matches, while the Women’s Team competition required three matches to determine the winner with Mexico defeating Guatemala, two matches to one.
The team competitions are a best of three matches: two singles and a doubles match. The order of the matches varies across a draw, but the final is always the singles matches and then the doubles match, if necessary.
In the women’s final, Mexican Montserrat Mejia beat Guatemalan Maria Renee Rodriguez, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7, first, and then Guatemala’s Gabriela Martinez defeated Mexico’s Alexandra Herrera, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, which was a rematch of the Women’s Singles final that Herrera won.
The tie-breaking third match was also a rematch, as Mexico won gold over Guatemala in the Women’s Doubles final, and so it was again as Herrera and Mejia beat Martinez and Rodriguez, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9.
In men’s play, Mexican Rodrigo Montoya led off against Costa Rican Gabriel Garcia, winning 11-6, 12-10, 11-7, and Montoya’s team-mate Eduardo Portillo needed five games to fend off Andrés Acuña, 11-2, 7-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, and close out the final.
The semi-final and quarterfinal matches were all won two straight with one exception. In the men’s quarterfinals, Cuba upset the home country of Dominican Republic in three matches. In the first match, Maykel Moyet of Cuba eked out a win against Dominican Ramon De Leon, 10-12, 11-9, 2-11, 11-8, 15-13. Luis Perez of the Dominican won the second match in three straight games, defeating Yandy Espinosa, 11-7, 13-11, 11-7, to force a deciding doubles match.
Espinosa and Moyet won a close four game match against Perez and Junior Rodriguez, 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, to win the quarterfinal for Cuba, and get on the podium by making the semi-finals.
Central American & Caribbean Games History
With three silver medals at this year’s Central American and Caribbean Games, Guatemala’s Gabriela Martinez is now has 13 CACG medals, which is the 2nd most racquetball medals in Central American and Caribbean Games history behind only Dominican Claudine Garcia’s 14. However, she has yet to win gold at the games, which Garcia did once in Women’s Singles in 1993.
Martinez’s 13 medals is just ahead of Mexican greats Paola Longoria, Javier Moreno and Alvaro Beltran, but all of Longoria’s and Moreno’s 12 medals were gold, as were 10 of Beltran’s. Also, Costa Rican Andrés Acuña has tied those Mexicans on 12, after he won four medals at this games, including his first gold CACG medal.
The Central American & Caribbean Games are part of the quadrennial of international games that lead up to the Summer Olympic Games. The next level of games in the Americas is the Pan American Games, which will be played next year in Lima, Peru in July and August, and racquetball will be included in those games.
XXV Central American & Caribbean Games
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - July 25 - August 1, 2026
Women’s Team - Final
Mexico d. Guatemala, 2-1
Match 1: Montserrat Mejia (Mexico) d. Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala), 11-7, 11-5, 11-7
Match 2: Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala) d. Alexandra Herrera (Mexico), 12-10, 11-7, 11-9
Match 3: Alexandra Herrera & Montserrat Mejia (Mexico) d. Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala), 11-4, 11-6, 11-9
Women’s Team - Semi-finals
Mexico d. Dominican Republic, 2-0
Guatemala d. Costa Rica, 2-0
Women’s Team - Quarterfinals
Mexico - BYE
Dominican Republic d. Venezuela, 2-0
Costa Rica d. Cuba, 2-0
Guatemala - BYE
Men’s Team - Final
Rodrigo Montoya (Mexico) d. Gabriel Garcia (Costa Rica), 11-6, 12-10, 11-7
Eduardo Portillo (Mexico) d. Andrés Acuña (Costa Rica), 11-2, 7-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6
Men’s Team - Semi-finals
Mexico d. Guatemala, 2-0
Costa Rica d. Cuba, 2-0
Men’s Team - Quarterfinals
Mexico - BYE
Guatemala d. Honduras, 2-0
Cuba d. Dominican Republic, 2-1
Costa Rica d. Venezuela, 2-0
Follow the bouncing ball….
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