2017 WRT Alamo City Open - Preview

The 2017 World Racquetball Tour (WRT) season ends this weekend with the Alamo City Open in San Antonio, Texas. David Horn can finish #1, if he wins the tournament, but he comes into the event seeded #2 with Rodrigo Montoya #1. Fewer than 200 ranking points separate Horn and Montoya with Andree Parrilla in 3rd about 1200 points behind Horn.

Horn won the last WRT title in Utah, and two of the last three, which is part of how he’s got himself into position to finish the year on top. But the Alamo City field is good with all of the top 10 ranked WRT players set to compete in San Antonio.

The Round of 32 will begin Friday morning with the Round of 16 to follow late Friday afternoon and evening. The quarterfinals begin Saturday morning at 10:30 AM with the semi-finals Saturday evening at 5 PM and 6:05 PM. The final is set for Sunday at 12:30 PM. You can watch the action live on Saturday and Sunday via the WRT website or the WRT Facebook page.

2017 WRT Alamo City Open
December 1-3 - San Antonio, Texas

Singles - Round of 32

1) Rodrigo Montoya v. 32) Glenn Martineau
16) Eddie Sada v. 17) Ross Smith Jr

9) Francisco Troncoso v. 24) Miguel Escobedo
8) Christian Longoria v. 25) Micah Farmer

5) Jake Bredenbeck v. 28) Alan Márquez
12) Alan Natera v. 21) Brennan Jennings

13) Hiroshi Shimizu v. 20) Sam Hojat
4) Alejandro Cardona v. 29) Lorenzo Valdez

3) Andree Parrilla v. 30) Cayden Akins
14) Erick Fernandez v. 19) A. J. Fernandez

11) Ernesto Ochoa v. 22) Elias Nieto
6) Gerardo Franco v. 27) Raul Valdez

7) Jaime Martell v. 26) Ruben Martinez
10) Shai Manzuri v. 23) Craig Clement Jr.

15) Juan Loreto v. 18) Erik Mendoza
2) David Horn v. 31) Nicholas Pavloski

Follow the bouncing ball….

2017 IRT John Pelham Memorial / Tournament of Champions Preview

Kane Waselenchuk, the #1 player on the the International Racquetball Tour (IRT), has been running rampant. He’ll have a chance to continue that rampage this weekend at the John Pelham Memorial / ProKennex Tournament of Champions in Portland, Oregon. Waselenchuk has surrendered only 12.07 points per match this season (not counting the three matches where his opponent has forfeited), which astonishing. He has dropped a couple of games, after sweeping through all of his matches last season.

Waselenchuk’s record since the US Open in October is jaw dropping, as in five matches (the three forfeit wins have come in the last two events) he’s only allowed 24 points to be scored against him. That’s an average of 1.6 points against per game! Anyone want to argue against Waselenchuk being the best men’s racquetball player of all time?

Nevertheless, there will be 23 other players trying to prevent another Waselenchuk win this weekend in Portland. The field includes the top IRT players, such as #2 Rocky Carson, #3 Alvaro Beltran and #4 Daniel De La Rosa.

Other players of note include former top 10 players Tony Carson and Charles Pratt. Mauro Rojas will also be in Portland off his Boy’s U18 World Junior Championship win earlier this month.

The IRT Round of 16 will be streamed live Friday from 10 AM via the IRT Network with the quarterfinals Friday afternoon from 5 PM on. Also, the semi-finals will be Noon and 1 PM Saturday with the final Saturday night at 7:00 PM. All times Pacific.

2017 IRT John Pelham Memorial / ProKennex Tournament of Champions, November 30-December 2
Portland, Oregon

Qualifying Round 1 - Thursday

Q8) Adam Manilla v. John Wolfe
Q1) Robert Collins v. Matthew Goolsby

Q4) Thomas Carter v. Sunji Spencer
Q5) Scott McClellan v. Tony Carson

Q6) Charles Pratt v. Dylan Reid
Q3) Justus Benson v. Tim Prigo

Q2) Jose Diaz v. Sam Bredenbeck
Q7) Nicholas Riffel v. Mauro Rojas

Round of 16 - Friday

1) Kane Waselenchuk v. Q8 - Noon
8) Mario Mercado v. Q1 - Noon

5) Samuel Murray v. Q4 - 1 PM
4) Daniel De La Rosa v. Q5 - 1 PM

3) Alvaro Beltran v. Q6 - 10 AM
6) Jansen Allen v. Q3 - 10 AM

7) Felipe Camacho v. Q2 - 11 AM
2) Rocky Carson v. Q7 - 11 AM

Follow the bouncing ball….

Bolivans win doubles, Colombians singles at 2017 Bolivarian Games

The conclusion of the 2017 Bolivarian Games in Santa Marta, Colombia confused The Racquetball Blog staff, as some of the teams in Men’s and Women’s Doubles that were in the final were teams that we thought had lost earlier in the medal round, so we weren’t sure why that was. But we’ve been told that two of the Colombian players - Mario Mercado and Adriana Riveros - were ruled ineligible late in the tournament, because they had not met the eligibility requirements. Both Mercado and Riveros were born in Bolivia, and only got their Colombian passports recently. Bolivarian Games rules are that players need to have a passport for the country they are representing for at least three years, which is much longer than Mercado and Riveros have had theirs, so they were disqualified.

Thus, contrary to what we reported a few days ago, Colombia wasn’t in either Men’s or Women’s Doubles final.

Bolivia took advantage of this, and swept the doubles events. On the Men’s side, Bolivians Roland Keller and Conrrado Moscoso beat Luis Perez and Ramon De Leon of the Dominican Republic, 15-1, 15-3, while their team-mates Jenny Daza and Stefanny Barrios won a close match against Guatemalans Gabriela Martinez and Maria Renee Rodriguez, 15-14, 4-15, 11-9.

In the singles competitions, Colombians swept the finals. Cristina Amaya won the Women’s Singles by defeating Bolivian Jenny Daza, 15-12, 15-11, and Sebastian Franco beat Conrrado Moscoso of Bolivia, 15-10, 15-13, to win the Men’s Final.

Overall, Bolivia topped the medal standings with eight total medals: four gold, two silver and two bronze. Colombia was second with four overall: two gold and two bronze. Guatemala won two silver medals, Ecuador one silver and four bronze, and Dominican Republican won one silver and one bronze. Four years ago it was Ecuador who topped the medal standings. The locale for the 2021 Bolivarian Games has not been chosen.

2017 Bolivarian Games - Santa Marta, Colombia
November 20-25, 2017

WOMEN’S SINGLES

Final - Gold medal match

Cristina Amaya (Colombia) d. Jenny Daza (Bolivia), 15-12, 15-11

Medal Standings

GOLD Cristina Amaya (Colombia)
SILVER Jenny Daza (Bolivia)
BRONZE Carla Muñoz (Chile) & Brenda Laime (Bolivia)

WOMEN’S DOUBLES

Final - Gold medal match

Jenny Daza & Stefanny Barrios (Bolivia) d. Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala), 15-14, 4-15, 11-9

Medal Standings

GOLD Jenny Daza & Stefanny Barrios (Bolivia)
SILVER Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala)
BRONZE Lucia Sarmiento & Maria Paz Muñoz (Ecuador)

WOMEN’S TEAM

Medal Standings

GOLD Bolivia
SILVER Guatemala
BRONZE Colombia & Ecuador

MEN’S SINGLES

Final - Gold medal match

Sebastian Franco (Colombia) d. Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia), 15-10, 15-13

Medal Standings

GOLD Sebastian Franco (Colombia)
SILVER Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia)
BRONZE Carlos Keller (Bolivia) & Fernando Rios (Ecuador)

MEN’S DOUBLES

Final - Gold medal match

Roland Keller & Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia) d. Luis Perez & Ramon De Leon (Dominican Republic), 15-1, 15-3

Medal Standings

GOLD Roland Keller & Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia)
SILVER Ramon De Leon & Luis Perez (Dominican Republic)
BRONZE Fernando Rios & Jose Daniel Ugalde (Ecuador) and Johan Adasme & Francisco Troncoso (Chile)

MEN’S TEAM

Medal Standings

GOLD Bolivia
SILVER Ecuador
BRONZE Colombia & Dominican Republic

Follow the bouncing ball….