Welcome to the 12th World Games competition, being held for 2025 in Chengdu, China, which is in the Sichuan province well inland. If you’re reading this in North America, you might never have heard of Chengdu before … which is understandable, because China probably has half a dozen cities you’ve never heard of who have populations that dwarf the largest cities in the US. You’d probably be amazed to hear that Chengdu has more than 20 million people and in terms of pure city-based population is one of the largest 4-5 cities in the world.
(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Games for more about the history of the World Games).
This is the 12th iteration of the World Games. The competition debuted in 1981 and was designed to be an Olympic Games-style competition for any and all sports that were not in the Olympics at that point. Racquetball was part of the very first World Games competition, held in Santa Clara in 1981, which was also used by the newly formed International Racquetball Federation to serve as the first ever Racquetball World Championships. The first World Games tournament was very USA-heavy, with American’s comprising 3 of the 4 singles semifinalists for both Men and Women’s singles. Ed Andrews beat Mike Martino for the first WG men’s title, while Cindy Baxter beat Barbara Faulkenberry for the first WG Women’s title.
(see https://rball.pro/583948 for the first World Games Men’s competition and https://rball.pro/57fd2f for the first World Games Women’s Competition results.
Since the 1981 event, racquetball’s inclusion has been sporadic, as the Games have moved all over the world and been hosted in many countries that had no racquetball presence. Racquetball was included in the 2nd and 4th iterations, but then went a dozen years and three events without being competed, as the games were held in cities in Finland, Japan, and Germany which had no courts. Thankfully, we regained some momentum and the sport was re-included in 2013 in Colombia, and of course was in the most recent iteration of the competition, held in 2022 in Birmingham Alabama.
The organizers in Birmingham requested of USAR to install the Portable court to host the competition, and the broadcasts from that event were amazing. I use this event and these broadcasts often to counter internet claims that the sport of racquetball “is too fast for TV” or “can’t be broadcast … when in reality it just needs an all-glass court, high-end cameras, and a professional broadcasting crew to make it look amazing. It is just night and day watching this 2022 World Games broadcast versus our typical streaming solution cameras.
(see
https://dailyracquetball.com/irf-2022-the-world-games…/ for links to the 2022 broadcast and finals)
We did get a peek of the courts to be used in Chengdu thanks to Germany’s Marcel Lünsmann , who posted a shot of the courts upon his arrival in China. See https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02yBthxmj4YyBuA2Q2SjeE2dezRpke38EcStjXuikem7vcnTgBELjTuDjuqzmNQEYol&id=100016504326087 for that image (apologies if this link has permission issues). The organizers have built two side-by-side all-glass court constructs with surrounding seating, which should prove to be excellent for broadcasting and viewing.
Speaking of broadcasts and viewing … unfortunately for racquetball fans used to “free” Facebook-based streaming of all top-level events, the World Games is a major event which sells its broadcasting like any other sporting event, and thus the availability of racquetball online will be limited. Keep an eye out on the regular places/groups where interested parties will post links as they become available.
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Event structure and Qualifying Overview
Initially the field was defined to be 4 countries from Asia, 4 countries from Europe, and then 8 countries from the Americas. The 2024 Worlds competition served as the qualifier for the countries, and at the time a lack of European representation led to a 5th team from Asia initially qualifying in. However, when the field was revealed this week, we see that the host country China technically does not have a team here, which then opened up an extra spot for Ecuador (who didn’t initially qualify).
The 2025 WG added a Mixed Doubles component but cut back on the competitors to just one Man/Woman per country, a change from 2022 where two men/women from the leading countries qualified in. So, the 2025 WG field is comprised of just one Man and one Woman from each country. There’s some fun country representations here: long-time Colombian Cristina Amaya Cassino represents Italy here, and long-time Chilean @Angela Grisar representing Germany.
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Previews
We have not seen the brackets yet, so it’s impossible to do a pure prediction, but here’s the favorites by competition:
Men’s Singles: The Men’s side likely will come down to the top touring pros who are present, namely @Conrrado Moscoso from Bolivia, @Eduardo Portillo Rendon from Mexico, defending champion @Andres Acuna from Costa Rica, and Argentina’s @Diego Garcia, who won the most recent international competition the 2025 PARC event with h2h wins over both Jake and Conrrado in the knockouts. Keep an eye out for @Jake Bredenbeck from USA and Canada’s @Coby Iwaasa , both of whom can pop into any top-level event and get upsets.
I think Moscoso and Garcia are the favorites, but Portillo is a tough out Jake didn’t fly to China to lose in the quarters. Should be fun.
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Women’s Singles:
Despite limitations of one player per country, the WG still have 3 of the current top 4 players in the world in defending champ @Paola Longoria of Mexico, Maria Jose Vargas from Argentina, and @Ana Gabriela Martínez from Guatemala. They’re joined by top competitors Bolivian #1 @Angela Barrios , USA reigning national champ @Naomi Ros, and Canada’s long-time #1 @Frederique Lambert as likely top competitors.
I like Longoria and Vargas in the final, but it kind of depends where Gaby and Barrios line up in the knockout stage, as they can get upsets and surprise.
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Mixed Doubles
There’s four teams i’m looking at primarily in the mixed who will be tough to beat, led by team Mexico (Longoria & Lalo); both of these players are excellent in doubles and Paola swinging on the right side will make them the favorites. Bolivia’s Moscoso & Barrios will be interesting, since Angelica can hold her own on one side while Moscoso’s athleticism will have him flying all over the court. Meanwhile, Vargas/Garcia from Argentina won’t be afraid of anyone, and Jake/Naomi will out hit most of the competition.
Mexico vs Argentina seems to be the favorites before seeing a draw.
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Looking forward to the competition! Stay tuned for more.
International Racquetball Federation – IRF
@iInternational Racquetball Tour
@worldgames2025