Juarez, MEX, WPH Press, 3/31/23
The Race 4 Eight’s first event outside of the U.S. kicked off at Juarez’s beautiful Campestre Juarez, complete with four pristine handball courts, 18 championship holes of golf, 16 perfectly conditioned red clay tennis courts, and multiple pools. Twenty-six pro players from CA, AZ, TX, CO, NM, OR, Canada, Ireland, and Mexico traveled south of the Texas border to compete in one of the sport’s hotbeds in the tour’s seventy-seventh event.
“Cd. Juarez/El Paso, over time, has been characterized by having very good handball players with a very particular style of play,” stated VIII Juarez R48LTE tournament director and Juarez handball patriarch Luis Cordova, Sr. “Among them we can count Naty Alvarado, Elias Carrillo, Poncho Monreal, Salvador Santa Ana, Luis Clarke, Leo Canales Jr. and Cordova brothers Luis and Daniel, to name a few.”
Each of the top eight Juarez seeds advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals, as the Flying Cordovas dominated on their adopted home court at Campestre, while El Paso/Juarez star Leo Canales, Jr. also advanced with a gritty two-game sweep against Taylor Schmitt.
Sean Lenning advanced to his first quarterfinal in his second start of the 2022/23 season with a comprehensive two-game sweep against CO State singles finalist John Chapman, while Abe Montijo advanced to his first quarterfinal of the season with a three-game, two-hour slugfest with former professional football player and top 20 R48 pro Kyle English.
David Fink advanced to Saturday’s showcase by sweeping Colorado’s Jon Gutierrez, while Same Esser knocked out local prodigy Andres Cordova in two games.
The match of the night pitted fist-shot artists Stephen Cooney and Ivan Burgos in a generational clash between R48 veteran Cooney and R48 Breakout star Ivan Burgos. After splitting the first two games, Cooney seized a 14-11 lead in the tiebreaker and held off a late Burgos charge to book his first spot in the final eight of the season.
Round of 16
Lucho def Canales, Sr. 15-3, 15-2
Fink def Gutierrez 15-1, 15-5
Canales, Jr. def T. Schmitt 15-7, 15-10
Danos def R. Fernandez
Esser def A. Cordova 15-3, 15-3
Lenning def J. Chapman 15-4, 15-3
Cooney def Burgos 15-13 tiebreaker
Montijo def English 16-14, 6-15, 15-6
Round of 8 (Saturday, all times MST)
Lucho vs. Montijo 11 am
Danos vs. Esser Noon
Canales, Jr. vs. Lenning 2 pm
Fink vs. Cooney 1 pm
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WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s 2022/23 Race 4 Eight XI Powered by ESPN features Race 4 Eight stops in Oregon, Arizona, Louisiana, Montana, Texas, Mexico, and Pennsylvania, all culminating with The Player’s Championship in Utah in May of 2023. 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, 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