The 36th annual Pan American Racquetball Championships tournament (at least the singles and doubles competitions) is in the books. Here’s a recap of the group and knockout action, along with links for the results as entered into the Pro Racquetball Stats database.
Congratulations to the winners:
– Men’s Singles: Diego Garcia Quispe , Argentina
– Women’s Singles: Montse Mejia, Mexico
– Men’s Doubles: @Conrrado Moscoso/@Kadim Carrasco , Bolivia
– Women’s Doubles: @Natalia Mendez/@Valeria Centellas , Argentina
– Mixed Doubles: @Alan Natera / @Carla Muñoz Montesinos
Executive Summary: Argentina showed up big this week, making the finals of four of the five competitions. Garcia wins his and Argentina’s first ever Men’s gold in IRF play. Mejia wins her 2nd career IRF singles title. Natera & Munoz win the first gold for Chile since the 2007 South American games.
Pro Racquetball Stats DB match results. Click on these links to see the match results in the DB:
– Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/2c0b4e
– Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/a39615
– Men’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/a11b14
– Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/f0ea0d
– Mixed Doubles: https://rball.pro/2987af
Team Points Results From Knockouts
PARC now includes a “Team Competition” where the countries compete against each other at the end of the individual competitions, but for decades the “Team Standings” were determined by an algorithm that awarded points based on group stage and knockout performance. I’m unclear whether IRF continues to name “team winners” in this same way, but here’s the team results using the historical methods:
(You can get these “team results” via queries available from the IRF singles page off of proracquetballstats.com for past history)
Combined Team (Overall)
1st – Argentina
2nd – Mexico
3rd – USA
4th — Costa Rica
Summary: four finals will do a lot for your combined team totals, and it was the Women’s Doubles final that made the difference for Argentina’s combined team to finish top. Argentina becomes just the 5th ever country to win a Combined team title at an IRF event.
Men’s Team
1st – Argentina
2nd – Bolivia
3rd – Mexico
4th – USA
Summary: Argentina squeaked past Bolivia for the mens’ title, ironic since both of Argentina’s men were born in Bolivia.
Women’s Team
1st – Mexico
2nd – Argentina
3rd – USA
4th – Chile
Summary: Mexico’s mixed team results made the difference here.
——-
Let’s run through the individual draws and talk about notable results.
Men’s Singles:
In the group stage, Guatemala’s @Edwin Galicia shocked Argentina’s @Gerson Miranda, which sent the Argentine to the back-draw. Some commentary here: I HATE the splitting of the knockout phase into a “red” and “blue” draw like we do in junior competitions so more kids can get trophies. It eliminates top players who had one bad loss in the group stage like Miranda, and you can see the results: a guy who’s making the quarterfinals of pro events is relegated to a competition with A-players and he just totally bailed, not wanting to waste his energy there. If someone tells me they don’t have “time” to play one more round of a knockout stage, i’ll laugh in your face; these players are in country and onsite for 8 straight days.
Other surprising RR results: Mexico’s #2 @Sebastian Hernandez had an awful event, losing twice in group play to also get relegated to the secondary knockout. Two other interesting group results: Canada’s #1 @Samuel Murray took out Bolivian Carlos Keller; both players are paring down their pro tour schedules lately, but Keller’s always a tough out in international play. Lastly, great win for the DR’s De Leon, beating Ecuadorian veteran Jose Daniel Ugalde to finish second in the group.
In the knockouts, some upsets early as Murray took out Costa Rica’s @Andres Acuna
, who has risen to #2 on tour. The biggest knockout shock was Argentina’s @Diego Garcia , Bolivian born but converted for $$ and opportunity, beating both USA’s #1 @jake Bredenbeck and then Bolivia’s @Conrrado Moscoso to make the singles final. I’ve long espoused about Garcia’s capabilities and he showed up in this event.
In the final, #1 seed Mar had no answer for Garcia’s quickness and power and fell in three close games.
—
Women’s Singles:
The shocker of the RR stage was the play of USA #2 @Lexi York, who beat both Lambert and MRR to top her group. Chile’s Carla Munoz held firm against Argentinian Valeria Centellas to claim the top spot, and a great s howing by CRC’s Larissa Faeth to top Canada’s #2 @Juliette Parent.
In the knockouts, former tour champ Mejia ousted Munoz in the quarters, and York continued her run by beating her teammate Michelle Key to make the semis. #1 Mendez got a great win over Mexico’s #1 Herrera to make the final, facing off against Mejia.
In the final, Mejia outclassed her fellow LPRT pro in three games for the gold.
—–
Men’s Doubles.
Notable group stage results: team USA the Bredenbeck brothers beat Team Mexico (Trujillo/Hernandez) to take the top spot in a solid win. Nothing else notable in the group stage.
In the knockouts, Bolivia beat USA in the semis in an upset, while Argentina’s young guns ousted the top seed Costa Rica to setup an all-Bolivian born final between Garcia/Miranda and Moscoso/Carrasco. In said final, Moscoso (who took a serious injury on the IRT a month ago) salvaged the event and took gold with veteran partner Carrasco by holding off the strong Argentinian team.
—-
Women’s Doubles:
The two four-team group stage pools went as expected; Mexico, USA, and Argentina were clearly a step ahead of the rest of the field. Curiously Team Guatemala did not feature Gaby & MRR, which severely thinned this field.
In the knockouts, USA (Key & York) couldn’t overcome Argentina (Mendez & Centellas) from the top half, while Mexico (Herrera and Salas) dominated into the final from the bottom half. In the final, the Argentines shocked team Mexico with a dominant 3 game win to defend this title from last year.
—-
Mixed Doubles
Defending champs Team USA (Sam Bredenbeck & Michelle Key) cruised into the knockouts as the #1 seed. Chile’s husband/wife team of Natera & Munoz shocked team Canada to take the #2 seed, while a group of death saw team Argentina shockingly lose to CRC and head into the knockouts seeded 9th of 9. This proved to be fateful, as Mendez/Miranda took the opener, then shocked team USA in the quarters to send the defending champs home early.
In the bottom half, team Chile did not take their foot off the gas, shocking the presumed top Mixed team in the world Montoya/Salas in the semis to make the final.
In the final, Natera & Munoz held firm against the solid Guatemalan team and outlasted them 11-9 in the fifth for a well-deserved gold.
——
Commentary on the State of the PARC and International competitions
2025’s PARC event saw yet more evidence of the changing of financials and the changing of the guard in this sport. Bolivia didn’t bother to send females. Some of the countries didn’t send enough players to field doubles teams. Some teams sent teenagers to compete in the Adult competitions. Many countries didn’t send their top players, so the event was missing the likes of defending World champions DLR, Longoria, Vargas, Scott, etc. Canada’s top doubles team was missing, and its best player didn’t play singles, a continuing trend from Murray & Lambert. Colombia’s Amaya now plays for Italy since her home federation collapsed in corruption. Team USA had to self-fund with gofundme campaigns because USAR has no money.
At least we have places like Guatemala, which has hosted four major IRF events this decade already, willing to fork over the fees to run these events. And, I love how we’re getting golds from outside the top three countries now; that’s great for the development of the game.
——
Congrats to the International Racquetball Federation for another successful event. Thanks to the IRT streaming crew, and thanks to @Gary Mazaroff and all his co-announcers for their hard work all week.
Next up on the Racquetball Calendar: USA Nationals at the end of May. Zero pro events for months.