Day 1
Juarez, MEX, WPH Press, 3/29/24
The 2024 R48/WR48 Juarez marked the eighty-sixth event in the history of the Race 4 Eight tour, with the tour spanning 17 states and two countries in the R48’s first twelve seasons.
The second Race 4 Eight stop in Mexico featured the “Pride of Juarez” and the R48 Juarez defending champion Lucho Cordova, two-time 2023/24 Race 4 Eight champion Danos Cordova (Memorial, Red Death) and seven of the top eight on the R48 Men’s Pro tour.
Lucho Cordova started his title defense on his home court with a two-game rout of Southwest rival Abraham Montijo, never allowing Montijo into the match.
In a rematch of the 2024 R48 Red Death won by Vic Perez in a tiebreaker, Ivan Burgos avenged his Red Death vanquisher in two games. Burgos built a huge lead in game one on the strength of a barrage of kills. Perez closed the gap late in the first but never threatened the Canadian star. Game two was close throughout, which seemingly favored Perez, but Burgos made clutch kills late to book his fourth quarterfinal appearance of the season after several near misses early in 2024.
Taylor Schmitt qualified for the first time, earning one of the most improbable comebacks in Race 4 Eight history. Schmitt lost game one 15-0 to Jab Bike and trailed 6-11 in game two before mounting his charge. Schmitt scored the final nine points of the second game and the final eight points of the third after trailing 7-10. Fifth-ranked Leo Canales ended Schmitt’s Cinderella run in the round of 16, dropping the newly minted Texas pro in two games.
Ray Ure played nearly flawlessly on Friday, dropping former Race 4 Eight finalist Max Langmack in the round of 32 and dominating R48 #4 David Fink in their round of 16 clash. Ure hit seven flat roll out crack serves in both games, covered the court effortlessly and unleashed lasers with either hand off the back wall. “That’s the future of the game right there,” top 8 pro Sam Esser would later say. “No one in the world could have returned Ray’s serves today.”
Irish stars Martin Mulkerrins and Stephen Cooney met for the first time in twelve years in the round of 16. Mullkerrins was too strong for his Irish counterpart, dropping the Coon Dogg in two games.
Sean Lenning and Mark Doyle met for the second time this season, with Lenning winning their first matchup in a tiebreaker at the Tucson Memorial. Friday’s matchup would also go three games, as Lenning raced to a first game win and Doyle built a 10-1 lead in game two and eventually forced a third. Lenning set aside his frustration from a few calls that went in Doyle’s favor and wrestled control of the match in the third to set up a National final rematch on Saturday with Martin Mulkerrins.
Tucson pros Sam Esser and Shorty Ruiz continued their rivalry in their round of 16 match, with Esser dictating play en route to a two-game sweep. “I just felt flat-footed in there,” Ruiz would later say.
Two-time 2023/24 Race 4 Eight champion Danos Cordova found himself in a match of the year contender in the last match of the night, as Diarmuid Mulkerrins was seeking his first Race 4 Eight quarterfinals. Mulkerrins took game one against Danos and a raucous pro-Danos Juarez crowd. Mulkerrins nearly ended the match in two, coming up just two points shy of what would have been the upset of the season. Danos built a seemingly commanding 11-6 lead in the third, but Mulkerrins charged back, digging nearly all of Danos’s best shots and finding the bottom board from the back court to eventually take a 14-12 lead. After a fourteen-shot rally on match point, Mulkerrins had the opportunity he wanted, a setup with his right hand from the front foot fault line. Either fatigue or nerves set in, as Mulkerrins hit a weak front wall-right side wall shot that Danos put away. Danos proved why he has more match point-down comebacks than any player in Race 4 Eight history, scoring four straight points in one inning to crush the upset bid.
Round of 16
Lucho def Montijo 15-3, 15-2
Burgos def Perez 15-9, 15-12
Canales def Schmitt 15-4, 15-3
Ure def Fink 15-6, 15-7
Mulkerrins def Cooney 15-6, 15-1
Lenning def Doyle 15-4, 8-15, 15-7
Esser def Ruiz 15-10, 15-4
Danos def D. Mulkerrins 11-15, 15-13, 16-14
Round of 8 (Saturday, all times CST)
Lucho vs. Burgos 2:15 pm
Canales vs. Ure 3 pm
Mulkerrins vs. Lenning 12:45 pm
Danos vs. Esser 1:30 pm
WR48 Quarterfinals (Saturday, all times CST)
Casey vs. Hughes 11:15 am
Ruiz vs. Esser 11:15 am
Munroe vs. Daskalakis Noon
McCrory vs. Holden Noon
*Watch select matches in Espanol here: Facebook.com/rktlive
Follow all of the Juarez brackets HERE
2024 Juarez Race 4 Eight Press Release HERE
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Race 4 Eight Fun Facts HERE
Race 4 Eight Referee Rankings HERE
WPH Elite 8 Fun Facts Deep Dive HERE
Current Race 4 Eight Men’s Pro Rankings HERE
Current Race 4 Eight WR48 Pro Rankings HERE
Race 4 Eight pro player bios HERE
WPH Coaching Centers HERE
WPH Workout Central HERE
2022/23 Race 4 Eight schedule HERE
WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s 2023/24 Race 4 Eight XIII Powered by ESPN features Race 4 Eight stops in Oregon, Arizona, Missouri, Montana and Mexico, all culminating with The Player’s Championship in Utah in May of 2024. Similar to NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and the FedEx PGA Playoffs, players earn points in the Race 4 Eight’s regular season stops to qualify for the season-ending Player’s Championship and bonus prizes.
For more information on the WPH Race 4 Eight title sponsor opportunity, please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at dave.vincent@wphlive.tv or World Players of Handball Development Director David Fink at david.fink@wphlive.tv. For more information on the World Players of Handball, please visit wphlive.tv
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David Fink
WPH Senior Writer