The 2016 WPH Outdoor V heads to Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Hotel and Casino this weekend for the 2016 WPH Outdoor V Stop #5 Vegas Lte at the Stratosphere’s two-court 3-Wall handball complex. The weather will be unseasonably cool for late May in Las Vegas but the handball action will be sizzling, as the top men’s and women’s WPH Outdoor pros will battle for ranking points and yellow jerseys in the 2016 WPH Outdoor V Race 2 Vegas and the 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships in September.
The 2016 WPH Outdoor V Vegas Lte Men’s A Singles features five of the top eight WPH Outdoor pros, as well as several former members of the WPH Outdoor Elite 8. WPH Outdoor Men’s #1 Juan Santos has won two of the last three stops on the WPH Outdoor V tour, including a dominating win at the most recent WPH Outdoor V Stop #4 Salt Lake City Aces. New York’s Timbo Gonzalez enters the Vegas Lte with a career-high #2 ranking on the WPH Outdoor career, coming off a singles and doubles slam in March’s Downey 1-Wall and a semifinal finish at the Salt Lake City Aces. Santos and Gonzalez will be joined in Las Vegas by fellow Elite 8 stars Kevin Gonzalez, Chava Cordova, and Pedro Carmona, as well as former WPH Outdoor Elite 8 members Shorty Ruiz, Sal Duenas, Lobo Valencia, Chris Tojin, and Gabino Velazquez. What a field!
The WPH Outdoor women pros kick off their 2016 WPH Outdoor season at the Vegas Lte, with WPH Outdoor Women’s #1 Tanisha Groomes aiming for her 13th WPH Outdoor singles title in her 15th career WPH Outdoor singles start. Groomes will have to contend with former WPH Outdoor women’s singles champion Ashley Moler and Ireland’s cross over star Ciana Ni Churraoin.
“I love to see the best players coming together to test themselves,” stated WPH Outdoor Director Tom Flores. “Both the men’s and women’s fields feature a lot of top players and whoever wins is going to have to be on their game. It’s going to be exciting!”
To read the Vegas Lte press release, click here
To follow the WPH Outdoor stats and history, check out DF’s WPH By the Numbers here
To follow the stats and finishes of the 2016 WPH Outdoor V Men’s Elite 8, click here
The 2016 WPH Outdoor V Vegas Lte will not be broadcast, but log onto wphlive.tv, Like the World Players of Handball on Facebook, or follow the WPH on Twitter @dfwph and @wphlive for all of the updates from the Vegas Lte and all of the handball news from on and off the court! The World Players of Handball is a non-profit foundation aiming to grow the game of handball through innovation and inspiring the next generation of players through junior clinics with certified WPH coaches, junior tournaments and the Race 4 Eight tour.
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer