Tuesday, July 26, 2011

World Junior Racquetball Championships - Day 2

Day two of competition at the 23rd International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Racquetball Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic saw some more interesting results on day two as the preliminary pool part of the competition continued.

In Girls U16, Maria Renee Rodriguez of Guatemala defeated Alexandra Herrera of Mexico, 15-12, 15-5, and that was Rodriguez's second upset in as many days, as she beat Mariana Tobon of Venezuela, 15-12, 15-12, on Monday. Rodriguez will likely win the pool, as her opponent on Wednesday - Kristy Rosario of Dominican Republic lost to both Herrera and Tobon.

The two singles matches between the USA U16 boys and the Costa Rican U16 boys went to tie-breakers with a player from each country winning once. Andres Acuna (Costa Rica) beat John Linsay, 10-15, 15-6, 11-6, while Adam Manilla beat Pablo Sauma 7-15, 15-10, 11-3.

Finally, in Girls doubles the Americans were 1-2, as Amanda Lindsay and Jessica Munoz defeated Canadians Valerie Fallu and Frédérique Lambert, 15-3, 15-9 in Girls U18, but in U16 Kelani Bailey and Mercedes Arias lost to Mexicans Ximena Gonzalez and Alexandra Herrera, 7-15, 15-5, 11-9, and Krystie Boyle and Lexi York lost to Costa Ricans Melania Sauma and Sofia Soley, 15-6, 15-13.

The bottom line is that the quality of play has risen considerably across countries, so easy matches for anyone - including players from the Big 3 nations of the USA, Mexico and Canada - are few and far between.

The 23rd Junior World Racquetball Championships continue through the week with the finals on Saturday. Note, there is live streaming from Santo Domingo for all 8 courts via the IRF website.

Follow the bouncing ball....

No comments: