Germany's 25th National Racquetball Championships are scheduled for February 03-05, 2006 in Hamburg. Germany's best players will compete in this competition, including defending Champion Martin Klippel and current European Champion Joachim Loof.

The 17th IRF World Junior Championships 2005 have concluded yesterday. Check out all winners and complete draws. Congratulations to everybody!

Great and important press coverage for the junior team of the Dominican Republic. The Listin Diario, one of the biggest newspapers in the country,  reported about the junior team travelling to Juarez, Mexico for the IRF World Junior Championships.

The website of the Womens Professional Racquetball Organisation, WPRO, has been re-designed. Check it out for all information on tournaments, top players and much much more.

Draws and daily updates on the 2005 IRF World Junior Championships in Juarez, Mexico are now available. Check out the link underneath to find out more about your favorite country or player.

The 17th IRF World Junior Championships 2005 in Juarez, Mexico will kick off today at 7.00 pm local time with the grand opening ceremony. Over 350 boys and girls from 19 countries and 5 continents will compete in these championships. All draws and daily updates shall be online from tomorrow on.

Changes within the Dutch Racquetball Association: Erik Timmermans was elected as new president of the Association at the annual meeting on December 10th. He succeeds Karel Matla (picture left) who will remain active within Dutch Racquetball by supporting it's efforts as coach and tournament organiser.

The Irish Junior Team, competing in the upcoming 2005 Junior Worlds, left Europe already today. After 19 hours of travel they will arrive in Juarez, Mexico. After 2 more days rest, the team will train on the following days, while the event's opening ceremony takes place on December 15th.

Mission accomplished. By winning the Angel Tree Rollout in Heidelberg, Germany last weekend, Oliver Bertels took over the lead in the German rankings. He followed Martin Klippel who "owned" this position since March 31, 2000. Bertels defeated Austrian Jan Lysakowski in a close final 15-14, 15-14.

Team Seoul won the 14th Asia Championships 2005 in Ansan, South Korea against the Daegu Team in the open final. The bi-annual congress of the Asia Racquetball Federation was postponed until January 2006.

A complete list of entries by division has been published now. National coaches or teams are asked to check their entries for any mistakes. Contact Usher Barnoff at Usherbar@shaw.ca for any further information.

You want to know more about the sport in Canada? No problem, check out Racquetball Canada's latest online newsletter and the Canadian website  for everything about racquetball in that country.

Bolivia, Ireland, Cuba, Korea, and, and,  and.... 19 countries will be represented at the upcoming 17th IRF World Junior Championships in Juarez, Mexico this month. More countries may follow in the hours and days ahead.

The French Open will be held in Forest-Hill City Form Club in Paris on January 14-15, 2006. Mr. Jean Pierre Boudart is the Tournament Director for the 2006 French Open, a prestigious event on the European Racquetball Tour.

IRF Technical Director Usher Barnoff reminds all IRF members to send in their final entries for the upcoming 2005 IRF Junior World Championships by tomorrow, Monday November 28th. No further entries will be accepted after this deadline. Please contact Usher Barnoff at Usherbar@shaw.ca for further information.

The Korea Racquetball Federation (KRF) will host the 2005 National Singles Championships on December 09-11 in Seocho. KRF also anounced that Korea will be represented at the 2005 Junior Worlds in Mexico by 12-year-old Lim Ji Su from Incheon.

It is the first Korean appearance at the IRF World Juniors.

La Federación Boliviana de Raquetbol (Bolivian Racquetball Federation) has re-designed it's website. Check out the new internet gate for racquetball in Bolivia and find out more on tournaments, pictures and other news in one of South America's strongest racquetball country.

Canadians Christie van Hees and Kane Waselenchuk won the 2005 Choice Hotel U.S. Open Championships. Defeating Cliff Swain (USA) in three tough games of 11-5, 12-10, 12-10, Waselenchuk took home his third title in a row, while van Hees took gold for the second time after her 2000 success by winning against Rhonda Rajsich (USA) in four games of 11-13, 11-4, 11-5, 11-4.

The Local Organising Committee has submitted directions/maps to the host club of the 2005 Junior Worlds Championships in Juarez, Mexico. Both possible airports (El Paso, USA and Juarez, Mexico) are included in this information. The 2005 Junior Worlds will be held on December 15-21. Over 400 players are expected to compete in this event.

The 10th Choice Hotel US Open 2005 are beginning today in Memphis, USA. Over 750 players from around the world will be competing in various divisions. The tournament is racquetball's premier event and the sport's original "grand slam" competition.  

The 2005 Belgian Open were in Dutch hands this year. Michael van der Holst (right) won the mens singles final against his Dutch team mate Pascal Matla, while Matla succeeded in the doubles division together with Edwin Schipper against v.d.Holst/v. Doezum (all from the Netherlands). It was Michiel's second success at the third tournament on the  European Tour 2005/2006.

Elections have been held in Venezuela. New president became Mr. Cesar C. Castro. He succeeded outgoing president Mr. Manuel Medina. Medina still serves on the IRF Executive Board as Vice President for South America.

The next IRF Coaches Level 2 course will be held on February 18-24, 2006 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. The course will be hosted by the United States Olympic Committee. More information and full details will be forthcoming soon.

Time is running out for entereing this years' US Open Championships in Memphis, TN, USA. All entries must be in by Wednesday, November 9th. For more information please contact USA Racquetball directly and/or visit the US Open website. This is the tenth anniversary of this Grand Slam event.

The 17th World Junior Championships 2005 in Juarez, Mexico are almost around the corner. In view of the large amount of entries from around the world that are expected to compete this year, the local organising committee has arranged a second hotel for this event. All information can be found on the Junior Worlds website.

Communication is everything in sports: Ireland's latest Racquetball Review has been just published on the Irish Racquetball website and is available for dowload. Check it out for updates and information on Europe's biggest Racquetball community.

The November version of Racquetball Canada's online newsletter has just been released and is available for download.

The third event of the European Tour will be held in Antwerp, Belgium with the Belgian Open 2005. Players from Europe and beyond are expected to compete in this traditional European competition on November 12-13.

The Japan National Championships were held on October 8-10 at the Gold's Gym in Yokohama. In men's division, Akio Shimizu (picture) defeated T. Hirose with 2-0. In the women's competition, M. Sato became new champion defeating veteran Toshiko Sakamoto in a tiebreak. Both champions earned a position in the national team to play at the World Championship 2006 in the Dominican Republic.

Ms. Yunhui Cobb has been named  International Director of the Korean Racquetball Federation. She will be responsible for communication with the  International Racquetball Federation, and all regional Associations (ARF, ERF, PARC) on behalf of the Korean Racquetball Federation. The IRF looks forward to working with her and an increased communication with the KRF in the future.

In the Mens Open Singles Final at the Munster Open in Fermoy/Ireland, Noel O Callaghan (O'Loughlins) beat Joe Farrell (Arklow) by 2 games to 1. In the Womens Final, Susan Neary (Arklow, left) defeated Elma Gibney (Moylagh) by 2 games to 0. Other winners were Julie Skehan (Touraneena) in the C/D/Novice Women's Singles and Johnny O'Keeney (Fermoy) in the D/Novice Men's Singles.

The 14th Asia Racquetball Championships 2005 in Ansan, South Korea are coming closer. Click on the invitational poster left to read more details about this important regional IRF competition. The event will be held on November 25-27 at the Ansan Sports Center. You may find more and other information on Racquetball in Asia on the Asia Racquetball Federation website as well.

Racquetball Brazil just opened it's new website with information and contacts for the sport in Brazil. Stay tuned for more updates and news online.

No. 1 seeded Rocky Carson (USA) is the winner of the 2005 New Mexico Pro Am Championships with a three-game victory in the mens singles division against Josh Tucker (also USA) 11-3, 11-4, 11-9. Also no. 1 seeded Christie van Hees (Calgary, Canada) defeated her major opponent and no. 2 seeded Cheryl Gudinas (USA) in a close ladies singles final 11-6, 11-8, 4-11, 3-11, 12-10.

The 30th New Mexico Invitational Pro Am Racquetball Championships are being played this weekend at the Midtown Sports and Wellness in Albuquerque.  Over 100 players are participating in twenty-five events.  The starship events are the WPRO and IRT pro events, for the women and men respectively. See all draws at the IRT/WPRO websites.

IPRO Director Gary Mazaroff presented a recognition plaque to Mark Loera on behalf of the IRF upon the opening of the 4 new Racquetball Courts at the Abe Montoya Recreation Center in Las Vegas, New Mexico/USA. The new courts have attracted 75 new players within a week of it's opening. New Mexico's Las Vegas is known as one of the major stops on the Santa Fe Trail which opened the Western United States to immigration during the 1800's. Plans are to add 4 more courts once the 4 courts are over flowing.

The Puerto Rico Racquetball Federation and the Dominican Racquetball Federation have set up a Racquetball Clinic for October 22-23, 2005 at the  the Dominican Racquetball Center. Goal of this clinic will be to train juniors from both countries to compete in the upcoming World Junior Championships this December. The juniors from Puerto Rico will be arriving in Santo Domingo next Friday and will play games during the whole weekend. 

Home advantage for players from the Netherlands: Dutchman Michiel van der Holst (picture, right) won the 2005 Autumn Open in the Netherlands. He defeated Pascal Matla, also from the Netherlands. Matla won the doubles competition against v.d. Holst/Richard v. Doezum. In the ladies competition, Daphne Wannée (also Netherlands) defeated Kathy Tritsmans from Belgium.

The Asia Racquetball Federation (ARF) has officially invited it's members to compete in the upcoming 14th ARF Asia Championships 2005 in Ansan, South Korea. The event will be held on November 25-27 at the Ansan Sports Center. Find all information about this event on the Asia Racquetball website. On November 27th, the Asia Racquetball Federation will also have it's bi-annual conference with elections for the executive committee coming up.

All starting times and draws for the prestigious 2005 Autumn Open in the Netherlands are now available online. The event takes place in The Hague and Zoetermeer. Players from all over Europe and the USA are competing in this second event of the European Racquetball Tour.

The top professionals will converge in Toronto on October 13-16th for the first full ranking IRT event in Canada in recent history of racquetball. Event director Adrian Webb along with the Racquetball Canada have assembled the best staff and the finest club in Burlington to bring the main event to Canada.

Despite the dramatic devastation of hurricane Stan, the opening of the Racquetball Complex at Club Casacadas in Guatemala City will take place on  November 11,  with national TV station GUATEVISION broadcasting from the opening. Mr. Willy Paiz, former Texas A&M Open Racquetball player and owner of the TV station, will hit the first balls in the courts with Mr. Andy Burge, President of Racquetball in Guatemala.

At the first Ballinrobe Open, Irish Number 1, Noel O`Callaghan made a successful start to the season when he defeated Triston Hickey in the Mens Open Singles Final while Elma Gibney was tops in the Womens Open Singles when she defeated Helen Shanahan in the final. Other winners were Jimmy Sheridan in Mens Novice Singles, Joe Glynn in Mens Over 40 Singles and Katie Walsh in Girls Under 18 Singles.

Racquetball Canada's October newsletter is out now and available for download on the Racquetball Canada website.

The date for the 13th IRF World Championships 2006 has been confirmed now for August 4-13, 2006. The event will be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. More information will be published in the coming months. For questions now, contact IRF Secretary General Luke St.Onge.

Entries are now being accepted for the 2005 Belgian Open to be held in Antwerp once again. This event is also a European Racquetball Tour event and is sanctioned by the European Racquetball Federation (ERF).

Men's Open defending champs Jack Huczek & Rocky Carson took a second final win over last year's challengers Jason Thoerner and Mitch Williams, while the lefty-righty team of Aimee Ruiz and Laura Fenton pulled off two upsets. The first was an advance past No.2 seeded Cheryl Gudinas and Kristen Walsh in the semis, followed by ending a three-year winning streak for defending champions Jackie Rice and Kim Russell-Waselenchuk in the final.

A new edition of IRF NEWS, the official newsletter of the International Racquetball Federation has just been published and is available for download. Check out all results from the European Championships, the World Senior Championships, updated world rankings and much more information from the racquetball activities around the world. Contributions for the next edition are always welcome.

The entry form for the 17th IRF World Junior Championships 2005 in Juarez, Mexico is now available for download. All International Racquetball Federation members are invited to compete in this major racquetball world event which takes place 16-21 December 2005.

Ralf Lysakowski from Austria is the winner of the 2005 Hamburg Open. He defeated Timothy Hardison (USA) in an exciting final 15-6, 6-15, 11-7. Together with his brother Jan, Ralf lost the doubles final against Germany's Oliver Bertels and Arne Schmitz 15-11, 15-13.