Montreal, QB, CAN, WPH Press, 7/6/25
Tournament director Joe Berthiaume and the Montreal handball community were proud to present the 2025 1-Wall Canadian Championships & Honey Martin’s 14th annual Big Ball 1-Wall Tournament at the Parc LeBer, Pointe-St-Charles on the first Saturday in July.
Men’s Big Ball Open Singles
The 15-player Men’s Open singles field featured players from Quebec and Ontario, highlighted by top seeds Jerome Santerre, Wojciech Gajda, and Benat Urrutia.
Third-seeded Urrutia stormed to the final on his home court in Montreal, dropping second-seeded Gajda to meet Quebec’s Jerome Santerre in the final. Urrutia captured the title in a close battle with his frequent Quebec rival, making the important shots late in the match.
“Benat is originally from Basque country in France and moved in Montreal in 2014,” stated Santerre. “Since our regional tournaments, we somehow repeatedly faced each other in the finals along the years. We can say that home court advantage comes handy since I managed to beat him a few times in Quebec City but he continued to keep his streak in Montreal. Benat and me have similar calibre and makes our tournaments interesting. It makes the competition between Quebec City and Montreal more exciting.”
Semifinals
Santerre def Matt C 25-13
Urrutia def Gajda 25-13
Final: Urrutia def Jerome Santerre 25-18
The Big Ball Open Doubles produced one of the most exciting matches of the event, as Jerome Santerre bounced back from his loss in the singles final to team with Raphael Santerre to defeat
Raphael Santerre and Wojciech Gagda.
“Wojciech Gagda is originally from New York and moved in recent years in a city in between Quebec City and Montreal (trois Rivières region),” stated Jermome Santerre. “It’s been a few regional tournaments that Raphael and Wojciech team up together and they are quite a good team together, taking out Jordan Fromstein and Matt C.”
Final: Team Jerome Santerre/Vincent St-Amant def Team Raphael Santerre/Wojciech Gagda 25-22
Big Ball B Singles
Noel Fagoaga and Peyo Laby met in the B singles final, with Fagoaga overcoming Laby to win the B crown.
“Noel and Payo are both originally from Basque Country France but moved to Montreal and are part of the club of Wallball of Montreal,” reported Santerre.
Noel Fagoaga def Peyo Laby 25-15
“The Honey Martin 2025 as an Canadian National Edition was a success!” Santerre enthusiastically stated.
Watch the matches on Jerome Santerre’s Facebook page HERE
Follow all of the brackets from the 2025 1-Wall Canadian Championships & Honey Martin’s 14th annual Big Ball 1-Wall HERE
Thank you to Jermome Santerre for the updates and pictures from the 2025 1-Wall Canadian Championships & Honey Martin’s 14th annual Big Ball 1-Wall.
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer