This past weekend featured the 2025 Mexican Junior National tournament in the Mexican racquetball hotbed of Chihuahua, Mexico. Mexico is the last of the “big 3” North American countries to hold its Junior Nationals, and the results of these events determine the national team members that will represent their country at the upcoming World Juniors in the Dominican Republic in mid December later this year.
Here’s a quick recap of the qualifiers and some commentary.
Mexican Junior tournament and qualification goes as follows: the entrants play a double elimination draw; the winner of the winner’s bracket is the champion and Junior National titlist, while the winner of the loser’s bracket is the 2nd player to join the delegation. This consolation bracket champ often is not the winner’s bracket finalist, and the format gives players hope of getting back on the team even with an early loss. Mexico does not play any official doubles competitions at its junior nationals; the singles qualifiers will form the doubles teams at Worlds.
R2 site for 2025 Mexican Jr Nationals: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48744
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Congrats to the following Boys Singles winners and finalists for team Mexico (each has the winner’s bracket titlist listed first, then the consolation bracket champion and second national team representative second)
(click here https://rball.pro/olf for a Matrix of all Mexican boy’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)
– Boys 21U: Sebastian Hernandez, Jorge Gutierrez
– Boys 18U: Eder Renteria, Diego Romano
– Boys 16U: Santiago Castillo, Emilio Jurado
– Boys 14U: Elias Medrano, Alejandro Perez Picon
– Boys 12U: Max Soto, Hermann Gracia Castro
– Boys 10U: Kerman Gracia Castro, Isaac Soto
– Boys 10Udb: Jose Enrique Caro, Diego Diaz
– Boys 8U: Angel Perez, Esteban Sandoval
– Boys 8Udb: Luis Enrique Rivera, Esteban Sandoval
– Boys 6Umb: Angel Perez, Alex Nunez
Commentary on the divisions:
Hernandez repeats as U21 champ, but has still yet to appear in an IRT event. Eder Renteria wins his first Jr title since 2018. Santiago Castillo also returns to the title-holders club after a few years off, having been shut out of the entire 14U cycle. Medrano wins his 2nd title in three years. Soto wins his 3rd title in three years and is setup to plow through the Mexican Juniors. Kerman Damian Gracia repeats as 10U champ and gets his 3rd overall title. Lastly, newcomer Angel Perez wins both the 6U and 8U multi bounce competitions to start off his junior career with a bang.
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Congrats to the following Girls Singles finalists for team Mexico:
(click here: https://rball.pro/qcm for a Matrix of all Mexican Girls’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)
– Girls 21U: Angela veronica ortega, Ivanna Balderrama
– Girls 18U: Marifernanda Trujillo, Yanna Salazar
– Girls 16U: Andrea Perez Picon, Lily Farias
– Girls 14U: Michelle Gomez, Grissel Gomez Rubio
– Girls 12U: Maria Jose Jurado, Mia Almanza
– Girls 10U: Jocelyn dominguez Chavez, Ana Paula De la Riva
– Girls 10Udb: Ana Paula De la Riva, Andrea Carrasco
– Girls 8Udb: Maria Rivera, Areai Maldonado
Commentary on the Girls divisions:
Ortega gets back on top, adding her 5th career Junior title to her bookshelf with one year of eligibility left. Trujillo claims her 5th title and now has one in each of the 5 traditional age slots (10,12,14,16,18). Former USA national Andrea Perez Picon wins her first Mexican junior title as the #1 seed in 16s. Michelle Gomez returns to the winner’s circle after a year off. 12U champ Jurado earns her 3rd career title.
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Congrats to all the Mexican Junior National title winners and National team qualifiers for 2025.
International Racquetball Tour
LPRT
@Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol
@International Racquetball Federation – IRF