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13th Pan American Games
Racquetball

Winnipeg Winter Club & Duckworth Centre
Winnipeg, Canada: July 24-30

medal rounds

• Quarters
• Semi-Finals
• FINALS

Quarterfinals

Both the men's and women's USA doubles teams breezed through their quarterfinal matches into Thursday 's semifinals. The men's doubles team of Doug Ganim (Westerville, Ohio) and Drew Kachtik (Westerville) topped Venezuela 15-9, 15-4, while the twin-sisters duo of Jackie Paraiso (El Cajon, Calif.) and Joy MacKenzie (Santee, Calif.) toppled Honduras 15-2, 15-1.

Ganim and Kachtik had a sluggish start in their first game, fall behind Venzuela's Ralf Reinhard and Jorge Hirsekorn 5-9. However, they bounced back with 10 straight points to take the game. Once energized, the duo was unstoppable, winning their second game easily.

"We really dominated the second half of the first game," Ganim said. "I feel like the second game just continued the flow." Ganim's status has been questionable in recent days due to an injury to his right elbow that occurred the first day of competition. However, his and Kachtik's dominating performance the past two days has shown everyone they are still the top contender for gold.

"My elbow feels great. The USA medical staff and our team trainer, Tony (Ontiveros) have done a great job," Ganim said. "I injured the same elbow eight weeks ago, and it took me six weeks to get the swelling out of it. This team got the swelling out of the elbow in about 30 hours."

The golden twins from the 1995 Pan Am Games, Paraiso and MacKenzie, came one step closer to clinching their second gold medal with their dominating performance over Honduras' Paola Matamoros and G. Toccaccely. In their two-game match, Paraiso and MacKenzie only allowed their opponents five chances to serve, resulting in a total of only three points in both games for the Hondurans.

The twin sisters will next meet Chile in the semifinals on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at the Winnipeg Winter Club. Ganim and Kachtik will match up against Bolivia at 12:45 p.m., also on Thursday. Quarterfinal action will conclude on Wednesday with men's and women's singles.

All Four USA Racquetball Singles Players Advance to Semifinals USA Only Team to Place Every Player in Semifinals

Adam Karp (Stockton, Calif.) sparked a string of victories by USA racquetball singles players, leading to the entire USA team advancing into the semifinals of the Pan Am Games. Karp defeated Puerto Rico's Curtis Winter, 15-4, 15-9, lining him up to play Winter's teammate, Rob DeJesus, in the semifinals. DeJesus, who is stationed in Phoenix, Ariz. with the U.S. Air Force, defeated Karp earlier this year at the Tournament of the Americas in Mexico.

"Rob is playing the best here so far," said Karp, who was disappointed with his play today. "I'll have to play my best to beat him. He's playing a lot better than me right now, so I've got to step up tomorrow."

Michael Bronfeld (Pacific Grove, Calif.) secured his spot in the semifinals by cruising past Venezuela's Jorge Hirsekorn, 15-0, 15-7. He will meet hometown-favorite Sherman Greenfeld, who squeaked past his teammate Kane Waselenchuk, 15-14, 3-15, 11-8, to qualify for the semifinals. The Greenfeld and Waselenchuk match-up was a rematch of the 1999 Canadian National Championships final, where the 17-year-old Waselenchuk upset the veteran Greenfeld. After watching the extremely loud following of fans that attended Greenfeld's match today, Bronfeld knows he will not be the crowd's favorite in Thursday's semifinal match-up, but that is only more motivation for him.

"I'm glad (Greenfeld) won today. I want to beat him, and I want to beat him in his hometown," Bronfeld said. "He's beaten me the last couple of times we've played and I'm due. I'm playing well and I like my chances. I know tomorrow there will be a lot of people yelling and screaming for him like they were today, but I've got my dad out there. That's all that matters."

In women's singles quarterfinal action, Cheryl Gudinas (Chicago, Ill.) knocked off the Dominican Republic's Claudine Garcia, 15-1, 15-5, while Laura Fenton (Lincoln, Neb.) toppled Bolivia's Yaque Chavez, 15-4, 15-8. Gudinas will meet Chile's Angela Grisar in the semifinals, after Grisar upset Canada's birthday girl, Josee Grand'Maitre, earlier today in the quarterfinals. Fenton will be matched against the host-country favorite, Christie Van Hees, who defeated Mexico's Susana Acosta in the quarterfinals.

Singles Quarterfinal Results -- Rob DeJesus (PUR) def. Luis Bustillos (MEX) 15-11, 15-7; Angela Grisar (CHI) def. Josee Grand'Maitre 15-8, 3-15, 11-8; Adam Karp (USA) def. Curtis Winter (PUR) 15-4, 15-9; Laura Fenton (USA) def. Yaque Chavez (BOL) 15-4, 15-8; Sherman Greenfeld (CAN) def. Kane Waselenchuk (CAN) 15-14, 3-15, 11-8; Cheryl Gudinas (USA) def. Claudine Garcia (DOM) 15-1, 15-5; Michael Bronfeld (USA) def. Jorge Hirsekorn (VEN) 15-10, 15-7; Christie Van Hees (CAN) def. Susana Acosta (MEX) 15-4, 15-5.

Semi-Finals

USA Racquetball Keeps Hope for Sweep Alive Advancing Five Players to Gold-Medal Matches -- Bronfeld Upsets Winnipeg's Hometown Hero to Play Teammate Karp for Gold

The racquetball gold-medal rounds looks more like the USA show, with the team's hope for sweep still alive. The USA team placed seven of its players into gold-medal matches with wins in today's semifinals. The USA is guaranteed a gold medal in the men's singles finals when teammates, and fellow Californians, Michael Bronfeld (Pacific Grove, Calif.) and Adam Karp (Stockton, Calif.) meet.

The USA and Canada will match-up in the other three gold-medal rounds with Cheryl Gudinas (Chicago, Ill.) meeting Christie Van Hees in women's singles, and both the men's and women's doubles teams taking the court against the host country.

Bronfeld advanced into Friday's gold-medal match by defeating the 'Racquetball Prince of Winnipeg,' Sherman Greenfeld. The hometown-crowd favorite, Greenfeld, had defeated Bronfeld in the their previous two meetings, and Bronfeld was out for revenge, as he dominated the first game, easily winning 15-6. However, the second game proved far more challenging for Bronfeld. He fell behind Greenfeld early and was not able to regain the lead until five-point run put him up, 10-7.

However Greenfeld, who is planning to retire after the Pan Am Games, would not go out easily in front of the boisterous, hometown crowd, and battled his way back to a 12-15 victory. In the tiebreaker, the game belonged to Bronfeld, who jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back, winning 11-5.

"The last two times I played (Bronfeld), he let me control the rallies," said Greenfeld, the current world champion. "This time he definitely controlled the match. He played great serves and put me into a defensive position. He capitalized on everything I did."

Bronfeld's victory over Greenfeld was not only a chance to avenge his previous losses to the Canadian, but also moves him one match closer to capturing an elusive gold medal. Bronfeld loss to fellow-American John Ellis on a highly controversial call in the gold-medal match at the 1995 Pan Am Games. Now, the 1999 U.S. National Singles Championships silver medalist is looking for gold.

"I've got one more match to redeem myself from the last Pan Am Games," Bronfeld said. "I'm tired of silvers."

Bronfeld will once again meet one of his teammates in the Pan Am Games gold-medal round when Karp takes the court against him. Karp earned his spot in the final round by defeating Puerto Rico's Rob DeJesus in a semifinal match where the 'flying fish' met the U.S. Air Force. Karp, whose nickname comes from his acrobatic dives, played U.S. Air Force mechanic DeJesus in a match with plenty of highflying action. Both players airborne skills made for an exciting match.

Karp took the first game easily, 15-4, but DeJesus battled back in the second game, running up a 0-4 early lead. After a nail-biting second game, full of plenty of dives and slides, Karp walked away with the 15-12 win and a shot at Pan Am gold. Both Bronfeld and Karp look forward to the gold-medal round, which is a rematch of the 1999 U.S. National Singles Championships final, where Karp took the title.

"My whole mindset coming in here was that I would rather play people that have beaten me before and beat them in the tournament that counts," Bronfeld said. "Beating Adam tomorrow will be tough, but I feel good."

USA Head Coach Jim Winterton (Syracuse, N.Y.) says that the problem of his players playing each other is the kind he loves to have. However, there will be no coaching in Friday's gold-medal match. Each player will play their own game, while the coaches sit back and watch.

"I'm intimidated by how Michael's playing," Karp said. "Michael is playing much better than I am at this point in the tournament. So, I'm going to have to step it up another notch tomorrow for it to be a good match."

Bronfeld and Karp are not the only members of the USA team with a shot at gold Friday. In women's singles, Gudinas defeated Chile's Angela Grisar, 15-6, 15-11, to give the 1995 Pan Am Games silver medalist a second chance at Pan Am gold. Unfortunately, it won't be against her teammate Laura Fenton (Lincoln, Neb.), who lost her semifinal match, 15-9, 15-6, to Canada's world champion Van Hees.

"I'm very disappointed in losing," Fenton said. "I felt like I played a good game. I just didn't play a great game, and that's the difference when you're playing someone like Christie. She didn't get tired. She's young and there is no question she was better. I was definitely on the defense. I fought as hard as I could, and now I go after the bronze."

Both the USA men's and women's doubles teams also advanced to their gold-medal rounds. Twin-sisters Joy MacKenzie (Santee, Calif.) and Jackie Paraiso (El Cajon, Calif.) knocked off Chile's Grisar and Loreto Barriga, 15-3, 15-12, to claim their spot in the finals against Canada, where the duo will be looking to repeat their gold-medal performance of the 1995 Pan Am Games. The USA men's doubles team of Doug Ganim (Westerville, Ohio) and Drew Kachtik (Westerville) toppled Bolivia, 15-3, 15-12, to also meet Canada in the Friday's finals at the Winnipeg Winter Club.

The USA team is guaranteed seven Pan Am Games medals in Friday's racquetball finals, including at least one gold. It has the opportunity to sweep the gold medals, with six, and also capture a silver and bronze, allowing each member of the USA team to walk away from Winnipeg with a medal around their neck.

Semifinal Results -- Women's Doubles - Canada def. Bolivia 15-9, 15-10 Men's Doubles - Canada def. Mexico 15-9, 9-15, 11-4 Women's Doubles - USA (Paraiso/MacKenzie) def. Chile 15-3, 15-12 Men's Doubles - USA (Ganim/Kachtik) def. Bolivia 15-3, 15-14 Women's Singles - Christie Van Hees (CAN) def. Laura Fenton (USA) 15-9, 15-6 Men's Singles - Michael Bronfeld (USA) def. Sherman Greenfeld (CAN) 15-6, 12-15, 11-5 Women's Singles - Cheryl Gudinas (USA) def. Angela Grisar (CHI) 15-6, 15-11 Men's Singles - Adam Karp (USA) def. Rob DeJesus (PUR) 15-4, 15-12

Finals

U.S. TEAM
SWEEPS AGAIN!

The U.S. Team once again managed a sweep of the gold medal rounds (repeating their 1995 performance in racquetball's Pan Am debut in Buenos Aires, Argentina), plus added a bronze in women's singles. Both doubles teams [Ganim/Kachtik and MacKenzie/Paraiso] won their gold medals over Canadian rivals earlier today, current National Champion Cheryl Gudinas pulled out a narrow win over World Champion Christie Van Hees, and the men's singles was an exact re-match of the U.S. National Singles final, with a straight-game win by Adam Karp over Michael Bronfeld. Laura Fenton also secured the bronze medal this morning, after losing to Van Hees in Thursday's semi-final round.

Friday's Medal Round RESULTS
• Women's Doubles BRONZE: [CHI] Loreto Barriga (Santiago) & Angela Grisar (Santiago) def. [BOL] Ana Nunez Cardozo (Cochabamba) & Maria Romero Caballero (Santa Cruz) 15-4, 13-15, 11-2
• Men's Doubles BRONZE: [MEX] Alvaro Beltran (Tijuana) & Javier Moreno (Chihuahua) def. [BOL] Ricardo Monroy Aigner (Santa Cruz) & Juan Carlos Tapia (Cochabamba) 15-11, 15-6.
• Women's Singles BRONZE: [USA] Laura Fenton (Portland, Ore.) def. [CHI] Angela Grisar (Santiago) 15-5, 15-8
• Men's Singles BRONZE: [PUR] Rob DeJesus (Caguas & USAF/Phoenix, Ariz.) def. [CAN] Sherman Greenfeld (Winnipeg) 15-9, 14-15, 11-2
• Women's Doubles GOLD: [USA] Joy MacKenzie & Jackie Paraiso (San Diego, Calif.) def. [CAN] Lori-Jane Powell (Prince Albert, Saskatoon) & Debbie Ward (Prince George, B.C.) 15-6, 15-2
• Men's Doubles GOLD: [USA] Doug Ganim (Westerville, Ohio) & Drew Kachtik (Dallas, Texas) def. [CAN] Roger Harripersad (Calgary, Alberta) & Kelly Kerr (Vancouver, B.C.) 15-6, 15-5
• Women's Singles GOLD: [USA] Cheryl Gudinas (Chicago, Ill.) def. [CAN] Christie Van Hees (Vancouver, B.C.) 15-12, 9-15, 11-10. In the day's closest match-up, reigning World Champion Christie Van Hees succumbed to pressure against U.S. National Champion Cheryl Gudinas ... Van Hees sacrificed a 10-8 lead in the tiebreaker by short-serving for a side-out, but quickly re-gained match point service a second time. With no appeals remaining under IRF rules, she made a second major error by serving to her opponent without first checking her receiver -- whose racquet had been upraised, signaling "not ready", continuously since referee Rich Clay had called the score. Capitalizing against the clearly-shaken Canadian, Gudinas placed two consecutive backhands down the line to tie the score at 10-10, then drove a forehand cross-court pass just out of Van Hees' reach for the win.
• Men's Singles GOLD: [USA] Adam Karp (Stockton, Calif.) def. [USA] Michael Bronfeld (Pacific Grove, Calif.) 15-9, 15-11.