Tucson, AZ, WPH Press, 3/23/25
The historic Los Angeles Athletic Club hosted the 2025 Race 4 Eight LAAC, featuring the R48 Men’s Pro, WR48, and SR48.
Lucho Cordova won his second Race title of the 2024/25 season in his fourth final at the LAAC, defeating R48 #1 Martin Mulkerrins for the title. The 2025 Player’s Cup will come down to Lucho and Mulkerrins, with both having a chance to secure his second career Player’s Cup in the next three events over the next six weeks.
R48 #3 Ray Ure and R48 #4 Leo Canales strengthened their positions in the top four, assuring themselves season-ending Elite 8 rankings. At least eight players will be vying for the remaining four spots in the Elite 8 in the season’s final three events.
Diarmaid Nash moved inside the top twelve after his second consecutive semifinal appearance at the LAAC, while LAAC tournament director plummeted from number nine to number eleven after failing to convert a match point against Sam Esser in the round of 16 on his home court.
Martina McMahon ascended to the top spot for the first time on the WR48, winning her second WR48 title in her second start of the season. Ciana Ni Churraoin moved into the number two spot on the heels of her finals appearance at the LAAC and her win a the 2024 Memorial. Mollie Dagg entered the LAAC unranked and jumped into the WR48 top nine after finishing third in her WR48 debut.
Sean Lenning decimated the field at the SR48 LAAC in his first SR48 start, vaulting to number two in the rankings behind David Fink. Ten-time SR48 champion Marcos Chavez returned to the SR48 top five after finishing second at the LAAC in his first SR48 start in five years.
See all of the post LAAC Race 4 Eight rankings here.
WPH Pro Men’s Ranking Methodology PDF
WPH Pro Women’s Ranking Methodology PDF
WPH Senior 40+ Ranking Methodology PDF
WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s Race 4 Eight Powered by ESPN features Race 4 Eight stops around the country, all culminating with The Player’s Championship in Utah each May. 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. The top 8 elite men will receive bonus cash after the season-ending rankings are tallied up; meanwhile, the top 4 Sr 40+ and Women’s ‘Fab Four’ will also receive bonuses equal or greater to the prize money offered in Salt Lake City. Email the WPH for detailed explanations regarding the ranking system, seeds and bonus pay-outs at season’s end: info@wphlive.tv
For more information on the WPH Race 4 Eight title sponsor opportunity, please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at info@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
Tournament seeds reflect rankings at the time of the event but are not the sole determining factor. The WPH retains the discretion to seed players based on their skill level, recent performance, and injury status.
The Executive Director will seed each tournament in a manner that respects the objectivity of the WPH rankings, while acknowledging that some unranked players are strong enough to disrupt the integrity of a draw if not seeded subjectively. Therefore, the seeding process will involve the objective constraint that no ranked player may be seeded ahead of a higher ranked player, while allowing for the subjective seeding of any unranked player the Executive Director deems strong enough to disrupt the draw.