National Champions Noel O'Callaghan and Elma Gibney again finished as winners with final victories over Triston Hickey and Susan Farrell respectfully at the Munster Open held in Tralee. However Noel was unable to win in doubles with his partner Christy Slattery (picture left): They got defeated by Triston Hickey and Adam Neary

IPRO Director Gary Mazaroff is on the road again. An instructor course in Sucre, Bolivia has been on his schedule this week. 15 coaches from 6 regional associations are attending this course. Bolivia is a growing racquetball country with many new players and courts. No wonder Gary had to have a press conference upon arrival...

The Turkey Open 2007 had to be postponed due to difficulties with the main sponsor. Too bad that Dutch National Team player Peter de Jong already booked an expencive flight to Istanbul that he could not use any other time. Luckily the club organizers - only for Peter - now organize a tournament, even without a major sponsor but with Dutch representation and a lot of fun.

Another IRF regional competition is coming up this summer, the 14th ERF European Championships. The ERF just sent out the invitations to it's members to compete in mens and ladies teams, as well as junior and senior competitions. The EURO 2007 will be held in Brembate, Italy.

All entries are now available online at the Pan American Championships 2007 event website. Participating countries are asked to check their information and report any errors to the Technical Director Usher Barnoff. In addition the warm-up/practice times for the courts in Santiago are also online. Check this website for all draws and results once the event has started.

Ian Chin (USA) won the 2007 Dutch Open Mens Singles Final against Dutchman Michiel van der Holst in three games. Van der Holst was able to win another Dutch Open title though: Together with his team mate Edwin Schipper he defeated Erik Timmermans and Peter de Jong in an all Dutch Doubles Final.

He has not played competitive Racquetball for many many months. But this long time is now over as Pascal 'Paz' Matla officially signed in for the 2007 German Open in Hamburg and will therfore mark the official comeback of the former Dutch National team member.

Two matches from the 2006 IRF World Junior Championships in Tempe, USA will be broadcasted on the US-based Tennis Channel in April. Make sure to view those premieres on the following dates:
Singles Final – April 3rd at 4:00 PM EST.
Doubles Final – April 5th at 4:00 PM EST.

Noel O`Callaghan won his 17th title in row at the Irish Nationals Singles in Kingscourt. Although Noel won the first game handily enough, Triston Hickey provided a far stronger test in the second. Well done to Elma Gibney in winning her second title, big surprise here was Bernadette Comerford making it through to the final.

Chile's Angela Grisar celebrated her first pro tournament victory ever last weekend at the 8th Annual Great Balls of Fire Pro-Am in Miami, Floria, USA. She defeated Kerri Wachtel (USA) 11-5, 11-3, 4-11, 11-4.

Elections for the Dominican Republic Racquetball Federation recently took place. Rafael A. Fernandez will be the head of the newly elected board until 2010. "The new board's main effort will be the expansion of Racquetball into the other provinces of our country", Fernandez said.

The Pan American Championships 2007 in Santiago de Chile are coming up soon and the Technical Director Usher Barnoff asks all participating countries to use a new registration way online. Only one official from each country is allowed to do the registration. Check with Usher directly for further information.

An Anti-Doping lesson has been given to the Dominican National Junior Team this month in Santo Domingo. The course was conducted by Dr. Devinci Sibilia. The fight against doping has to start early and the Dominican juniors are now aware of the risks for their health and their sport.

Obviously Patricia Beltrananea is the rising star of Guatemala Racquetball. Officials say she has improved so much, so no wonder she will be playing singles and doubles at the upcoming Pan American Championships in Chile. There is alot going on in Guatemala anyway: The National Junior Championships just recently took place with 35 players competing and with the youngest only being 6 years old.

The 2007 Independence Cup is currently underway in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 60 players in 5 divisions will compete for gold medals and also for a final spot on the National Team that will fight for glory in the upcoming 20th Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile at the end of this month.

Barcelona's Victor Montserrat won the 2007 Italian Open Mens Singles Final against Franco Illino (Italy) 15-6, 15-7. It is his second ERT success after winning the French Open in January. Montserrat also succeeded in the Mens Doubles competition together with his team mate Ivan Flores.

Bolivia Racquetball also had elections with no changes at the top. Roberto Aracena has been re-elected for another term in office of FEBORA, the Association for Racquetball in Bolivia. Vice President became Fernando Arnéz, while Mirko Alvarez was elected as General Secretary. Boliva has applied to host the 2007 World Juniors. A decision will be made next month.

Continuity at the top of German Racquetball: 48-year-old Jorg Ludwig has recently been re-elected as President of the German Federation. Also remaining in office are Torsten Krieger as Vice President and Mike Mesecke as General Secretary. The German Federation has many tasks in 2007, one will be the IRF World Senior Doubles in June in Hamburg.

Conor Skehan, Eoin Kearns (U13 Boys Champions) Ruaidhri O'Rourke, Garvan Dunford (U16 Champions) are one of the Irish National Champions that competed last weekend where the Gibney sisters Ailish and Elma regained the Open Womens title thanks to a straight games victory Bernie O'Callaghan and Helen Shanahan.

The German Open Championships in Hamburg are also coming up 'soon'... the first major surprise entry for this 2007 Open just came in today: USA's Brenda Kyzer has confirmed her attendance at this years' event. She is the current No. 6 on the WPRO Tour, the Womens Professional Racquetball Tour. Players from all over Europe will also compete in one of Europe's oldest tournaments.

from left to right:
Mex. RB Secretary General Miguel Perea, IRF Sec General Luke St Onge, President Mario Vazquez Rana, IRF President Keith Calkins, Mex. RB  President  Fito Baca

Another important meeting took place last week in Mexico City with President Mario Vazquez Rana of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) regarding Racquetball's inclusion into the Pan American Games for 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico. "We were very well received and we thank President Mario Vazquez Rana for his continued support for our sport. It is not officially confirmed that we will be part of the 2011 Games but we are optimistic about it", said President Keith Calkins. The final decision will be made at the PASO Meeting this Summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Tristan Hickey defeated Ireland's No. 1 Noel O'Callaghan for the first time in competitive action to take the Open Singles title at the Moylagh Open in Ireland. He also claimed the Open Doubles title with his partner Adam Neary. Susan Farrell won the Open Women's Singles title, defeating Elma Gibney in the final while she teamed up with her sister Toni Neary to take the Open Doubles title against the Ailish and Elma Gibney.

The second edition of Racquetball Europe, a newsletter for and about racquetball in Europe is now available for download. It includes news from all the member countries of the ERF. The ERF is looking for a new editor of the newsletter to take over from the next edition, applications to the ERF by March 15th.

Chile is the next site on the international tournament calendar as all Pan American Racquetball nations are making plans these days to attend the 20th Pan American Racquetball Championships 2007 in Santiago de Chile. The Opening Ceremony is set for March 30th. Teams and players from more than 15 countries are expected to compete for important gold medals.

The 2007 Turkey Open will be held in Istanbul on March 23-25. JVC (Turkey) will be the main sponsor for this tournament. This years Turkey Open will be held at the Hillside City Club in conjunction with a major Squash tournament at the same time. Contact Ms. Ayten Kececi, President of Turkey Racquetball for further information on this event.

The biggest event in Japan is coming up: The 2007 Japan Open with 200 players competing will be held through different weekends in order to play all those matches in the various skill competitions: April 21-22 (C Division), April 28-29 (B Division), May 3-6 (Open Division). The event takes place at Sports Club Sanpia Tama in Tama City, Tokyo. Contact Yasushi Tanahara for more information on the Japan Open 2007.

Racquetball is certainly booming in Guatemala. No big surprise then that a new website for the sport has been launched today. The professionally designed website covers all important information on whats going on with Racquetball in the Latin American Country. Enjoy!

Check out the updated World Junior Rankings from February 6, 2007. There are quite a few new No. 1 players in all the different age groups. A well deserved recognition after some tight matches during the 2006 Junior Worlds in Tempe, USA.Ham

Martin Klippel from Hamburg has once again won the 26th German National Championships 2007. He defeated Oliver Bertels in the Mens Singles Final. Together they were able to claim another Mens doubles title against Marcel Czempisz and Arne Schmitz. In the Ladies Singles Final, Yvonne Kortes defeated Renate Hartmann to claim her 8th Ladies Singles title already.

The Asia Open in Fukuoka, Japan were another very successful tournament with many great players and performances.  Park Min Soo (Korea) defeated Lee Sang Soo (Korea) 10-11, 11-4, 11-9 in the Mens final, while Japan's  Ayako Tsuruta defeated Lee Young Mi (Korea) 11-3, 11-5 in the Ladies Singles Final.

The IRF will hold it’s 14^th World Championships 2008 in Kingscourt, Ireland. The IRF Executive Committee has just voted on the venue change recently. The 2008 Worlds were originally granted to Paris, France but finanical reasons forced the ‘search’ for another venue, while other bids from around the world were already eager to host the Worlds as well.

The 2007 Dutch Open are back on the European Calendar this year. This event will take place from March 16-18 in cooperation with the (US) military base in Schinnen. Schinnen is situated in the South of the Netherlands. Signing in is only possible by using the online entry form at the Dutch website before March 1st.

"A 'Céad Míle Fáilte' to all Competitors", that is the motto of Ireland's Arklow Irish Open that will be held on May 4th-7th. It will be the 23rd time already that this tournament will be held. Only limited entries are allowed for this event so players have to make plans early and sign in as soon as possible to attend at this tournament.

The 2007 Italian Open are scheduled for March 3-4 in Brembate. Players from all over Europe are expected to compete as Brembate is also the site for the 2007 European Championships this July/August. The Italian Open are also an ERT major event so important ranking points can be earned as well.

Another IRF Newsletter has been published and is available online. Find all results of the 2006 Junior Worlds and some interesting stories and news from around the racquetball globe inside such as activities in Asia and Europe, the World Senior Doubles information and much more. Articles and stories are always welcome and will be considered for publishing.

The US National High School Championships sponsored by WILSON will be held at Vetta Sports Club in ST Louis Missouri beginning Thursday March 1. It is anticipated that over 35 high school teams from across the country will participate. Both singles and doubles divisions are available.

Costa Rica Racquetball had it's annual meeting already in December 2006 and elected former Secretary Marcelo Gomez as new President of the Association, following outgoing President Luis Fernando Leal. In addition a name change was sucessfully voted on from Asociación Amateur de Racquetball de Costa Rica to Asociacion Costarricense de Racquetball. New Secretary of the Association became Olman Aguilar Castro.

The 3rd Asia Open Championships are around the corner already. The event directors expect 150 entries from Asian Racquetball countries. Fukuoka, Japan will be the host for this years' Asia Open 2007 on January 26-28. At the same time a special Student Friendship Championships will be held in conjunction with the Open tournament to boost the interest for Racquetball amongst students.

Catalonians Victor Monserrat and Anna Ventura were in the winners of the 2007 French Open held in Forest Hill City Form Club in Nanterre, Paris. Monserrat who is swifly moving up the European ranking list defeated Ian Chin (USA) in the final of the Mens Open Singles. Anna Ventura defeated Kim Heheman of the Netherlands in the Womens final. Mens Doubles winners were Ian Chin and Timothy Hardison (USA).

The first Junior Racquetball Camp, took place in Rancagua, Chile with 23 participants from all over the country attending. Head coaches of the camp were Santiago Canedo (Bolivia) and Franco Illino (Italia). "This has been and historic event for the Chilean Racquetball and we will make this activity every year to develop Racquetball in Chile", said Franco Illino after the camp.

Ireland's Racquetball Review has just been spread around. The publication which is created by Pat Keane contains information about the latest news and developments from the green Island.

Chihuahua's Club Deportivo Lince will once again be the host of the 21. Torneo Internacional de Racquetball 2007 on January 22-28. The event is sponsored by Toyota Automobiles Chihuahua. Price money will be offered for men and women divisions.

Martin Klippel and Yvonne Kortes are the defending Champions at the 26th German National Championships on February 2-4 in Hamburg. With the men and womens singles division, doubles, seniors and juniors competitions in various age and skill divisions will be held during that weekend as well. Players from all over Germany are exected to compete in "the Nationals".

Ireland's players now starting to qualify for the the National Singles and Doubles Championships 2007. The Singles Competition will be held in Kingscourt on March 10/11. Defending Champions Noel O'Callaghan and Susan Farrel will try to reign the title and qualify for the National Team.