19-Jul Day Six:
Two Finals, Two Upsets

Both team finals ended with upset results as Colombia took the men's title and Canada the women's, both teams defeating the defending champions in the process.

The women's final went down to the wire, as Carolyn Russell took the must-win first match for the Canadians, Natalie Grainger then brought it back to level. Individual silver medallist Alana Miller clinched the gold for Canada with a hard-fought three-game win over Latasha Khan. Canada thus regained the title they lost to the US in 2003, giving them the team gold in three of the four runnings of the event.

Colombia took the men's gold when Javier Castilla and Miguel Angel Rodriguez gave then an unassailable lead with wins over the higher-ranked Robin Clarke and Shahier Razik, respectively. Canada, having won the team gold in the 2003, 1999 and 1995 events, had to settle for silver but still finished top of the squash medal table.

Men's Final:
Colombia 2-0 Canada
Javier Castilla 3-1 Robin Clarke               9/2, 0/9, 10/8, 9/3 (51m)
Miguel A.Rodriguez 3-1 Shahier Razik       0/9, 10/9, 9/3, 9/7 (94m)

Women's Final:
Canada 2-1 USA
Carolyn Russell 3-1 Michelle Quibell          3/9, 9/2, 9/4, 9/5 (35m)
Runa Reta 0-3 Natalie Grainger                2/9, 0/9, 4/9 (22m)
Alana Miller 3-0 Latasha Khan                  9/7, 9/5, 10/8 (43m)

18-Jul, Day Five:
Top Two make Women's Final

It will be an all-North American women's team final as top seeds USA and Canada came through their semi-finals against Mexico and Colombia.

Individual champion Natalie Grainger led the USA to a whitewash over Mexico while Canada took a 2-0 lead over surprise semi-finalists Colombia, allowing individual silver-medallist Alana Miller to concede her match in readiness for the final.

Colombia take out the top seeds ...

After the jostling in the pool matches it was down to business for the men's teams, with two morning quarter-finals and two semis in the evening.

The home crowd were delighted to see their team beat as US team featuring individual finalist Julian Illingworth, with Rafael Alarcon and Luciana Barbosa setting up a winning lead to guarantee Brazil at least a bronze medal.

In the semis they met defending champions Canada, and although Luciano Barbosa and Rafael Alarcon both took a game, their run stopped there as Robin Clarke and Shahier Razik took Canada through to the final.

Having beaten Argentina in their quarter-final Colombia went on to produce a stunning upset against top seeds Mexico. Javier Castilla got the Colombians off to a good start, then Miguel Angel Rodriguez finished it off with a marathon four-game win over individual champion Eric Galvez (who has lost both his matches since taking that gold medal).

Women's
pool
deciders ...

Women's A:
USA 3-0 Brazil

Brazil faced an uphill task to reach the semis, needing a win against top seeds USA to make amends for yesterday's defeat to Colombia, who now progress to the semis.

Women's B:
Canada 2-1 Mexico

Both unbeaten, the prize for Canada was that they avoid the USA in the semis.

17-Jul, Day Four:
Crunch day for the men's teams

It's the second day of team action with more pool matches throughout the day. By tonight the positions for the men's playoffs will be decided.

In the first women's match of the day Colombia produced a shock 2/1 win against South American champions Brazil, the highlight of which was Silvia Angulo's straight-games win over Thaisa Serafini. If the USA beat Brazil tomorrow morning Colombia will join the Americans in the semi-finals.

Canada eased past Argentina in women's group B and will face second seeds Mexico in the group decider tomorrow.

The USA Men's team started their campaign with a 2/1 win over El Salvador. Individual finalist Julian Illingworth had little left in the tank as he lost 3/0 to Ricardo Weiskopft, but wins from Chris Gordon and Jamie Crombie gave the Americans the victory.

In the evening the USA faced Mexico while in pool B Canada played Argentina. In both cases the winners - Mexico and Canada - go straight into the semi-finals where a guaranteed medal - and a match against a team that will have already played earlier in the day - awaits.

For the losers of these matches it's a place in the early-morning quarter-finals against first or second in pool C.

Mexico beat the USA to the semis
    

Day FOUR
team matches

Women's A:
Colombia 2-1 Brazil
Women's B:
Canada 3-0 Argentina

Men's A:
USA 2-1 El Salvador
Mexico 2-1 USA

Men's B:
Argentina 3-0 Guatemala
Canada 3-0 Argentina

Men's C:
Colombia 2-1 Venezuela
Brazil 3-0 Peru
Brazil 3-0 Colombia
Peru v Venezuela

FULL TEAM RESULTS
 

16-Jul, Day Three:
Grainger duly collects
but Galvez denies US double ...

Women's Final:
[1] Natalie Grainger (Usa) bt [3/4] Alana Miller (Can)  
       9/1, 9/0, 9/1 (20m)

Men's Final:
[2] Eric Galvez (Mex) bt [5/8] Julian Illingworth (Usa) 
       9/0, 9/4, 9/7 (47m)

She started as the hot favourite and Natalie Grainger duly delivered in Rio as she romped to victory in the final against Alana Miller. A US citizen since February, Grainger came through to take the gold without dropping a game top succeed team-mate Latasha Khan as the Pan American champion.

For her part Miller was delighted with a silver. ''It is a fantastic feeling winning a medal at the Pan Am Games. These types of opportunities don't come around every day. Natalie is a tough competitor and I did everything that I could and I am taking some positive stuff with me from the match.''

In the men's final Julian Illingworth couldn't find the form that saw him take two upset victories yesterday, although after two marathons that perhaps wasn't surprising. Eric Galvez maintained his run of straight-game wins to give Mexico the gold.

Day three started with the first of the team pool rounds.

Individual finalist Grainger took just 15 minutes to whitewash Colombian number one Silvia Angulo as the USA started their team campaign with a comprehensive win while second seeds Mexico were just as impressive in despatching Argentina.

In the men's event top seeds Mexico and Canada also made a solid start with 3/0 wins over El Salvador and Guatemala.

Day THREE
team matches

Women's A:
USA 3-0 Colombia
Women's B:
Mexico 3-0 Argentina

Men's A:
Mexico 3-0 El Salvador

Men's B:
Canada 2-1 Guatemala

Men's C:
Brazil 3-0 Venezuela
Colombia 2-1 Peru

FULL TEAM RESULTS

 

15-Jul, Day Two:
Grainger eases into final,
Miller takes the long route ...

The top four seeds all cruised through to the women's semi-finals, with Natalie Grainger, Runa Reta, Alana Miller and Samantha Teran all completing straight-game wins in under half an hour. In the afternoon semi-finals Grainger, the hot favourite, overpowered Reta while Miller survived a marathon 79-minute encounter - losing a two-game lead before taking the fifth - to guarantee Canada at least a silver.

Team USA reports

Illingworth stuns Razik,
reaches final against Galvez ...

Top seed and defending champion Shahier Razik crashed out as the men's quarter-finals got under way, as US champion Julian Illingworth scored an impressive straight-games win.

This was one of my best wins, especially since it was three games to zero," Illingworth said after routing Razik. "I'm feeling pretty confident right now. I just need to carry that momentum into the rest of the tournament."

Illingworth then went on to beat Colombia's Miguel Angel Rodriguez in five games in the semi-finals.

Canadian hopes were revived when Shawn DeLierre overcame Jorge Baltazaar in a 70-minute tussle, but he then fell to second seed Eric Galvez who completed two straight-game wins to reach the final relatively fresh ...

Chris Smith reports on Illingworth's breakthrough
 

"It's really exciting to be only one win away from the gold medal. I'm having a great time competing for the U.S. for the first time. I can't wait for that match in the final."

9/1, 9/0, 9/1 (20m)


Alana
Miller

9/7, 4/9, 8/10, 9/1, 9/6 (95m)

Miguel Rodriguez

9/0, 9/4, 9/7 (47m)

Eric
Galvez

9/3, 9/3, 9/7 (44m)

Eric
Galvez

Full Team Results

Men's qualifying rounds - Pool A:
[1] MEXICO bt EL SALVADOR 3-0
Eric Galvez bt Ricardo Weisskopf 9-4, 9-3, 9-4
Marcos Mendez bt Byron Garcia 9-7, 9-5, 9-1
Jorge Isaac Baltazar Ferreira bt Nelson Coronado 9-3, 9-6, 9-2

USA bt EL SALVADOR 2-1
Julian Illingworth lost to Ricardo Weisskopf 3-9, 0-9, 6-9
Christopher Gordon bt Nelson Coronado 9-5, 9-2, 9-0
Jamie Crombie bt Byron Garcia 9-1, 9-1, 9-5

[1] MEXICO bt USA 2-1
Eric Galvez lost to Julian Illingworth 3-9, 9-7, 8-10, 0-9
Jorge Isaac Baltazar Ferreira bt Christopher Gordon 7-9, 9-4, 9-5, 9-2
Marcos Mendez bt Jamie Crombie 9-4, 9-3, 9-0

 Final positions: 1 Mexico, 2 USA, 3 El Salvador

Pool B:
[2] CANADA bt ARGENTINA 3-0
Shahier Razik bt Roberto Pezzota 9-0, 9-1, 9-3
Shawn Delierre bt Rodrigo Pezzota 7-9, 9-2, 4-9, 9-4, 9-1
Robin Clarke bt Matias Valenzuela 9-6, 9-8, 9-6

[2] CANADA bt GUATEMALA 2-1
Shahier Razik bt Jose Paulo Mendez 9-2, 9-2, 9-2
Robin Clarke bt Mauricio Sedano 9-1, 9-6, 9-3
Shawn Delierre lost to Luis Asturias 4-9, 4-9, 9-1, 7-9

ARGENTINA bt GUATEMALA 3-0
Roberto Pezzota bt Jose Paulo Mendez 9-0, 9-5, 9-1
Rodrigo Pezzota bt Luis Asturias 5-9, 10-8, 9-7, 9-4
Matias Valenzuela bt Mauricio Sedano 9-2, 9-2, 9-1

Final positions: 1 Canada, 2 Argentina, 3 Guatemala

Pool C:
[3] BRAZIL bt [4] COLOMBIA 2-1
Rafael F Alarcon bt Miguel Angel Rodriguez 9-4, 9-5, 9-0
Ronivaldo Santos lost to Bernardo Samper 3-9, 6-9, 9-5, 6-9
Luciano Alves Barbosa bt Javier Castilla Conde 9-0, 9-0, 9-0

[3] BRAZIL bt PERU 3-0
Rafael F Alarcon bt Jose Manuel Elias 9-0, 10-9, 9-7
Ronivaldo Santos bt Mauricio Dasso 9-1, 9-3, 9-2
Luciano Alves Barbosa bt Andres Duany 9-7, 9-1, 9-4

[3] BRAZIL bt VENEZUELA 3-0
Rafael F Alarcon bt Hernan Augusto Marino Osorio 9-0, 9-1, 9-3
Luciano Alves Barbosa bt Luis Hernandes 9-0, 9-0, 9-0
Ronivaldo Santos bt Francisco Valecillo 9-4, 9-4, 9-1

[4] COLOMBIA bt PERU 2-1
Miguel Angel Rodriguez lost to Jose Manuel Elias 9-1, 6-9, 4-9, 6-9
Javier Castilla Conde bt Andres Duany 9-3, 7-9, 9-2, 4-9, 9-1
Bernardo Samper bt Mauricio Dasso 9-0, 9-0, 9-1

[4] COLOMBIA bt VENEZUELA 2-1
Miguel Angel Rodriguez bt Hernan Augusto Marino Osorio 9-3, 7-9, 9-4, 9-0
Bernardo Samper bt Francisco Valecillo 9-0, 9-0, 9-1
Javier Castilla Conde lost to Luis Hernandes 0-9, 0-9, 0-9

PERU bt VENEZUELA 2-1
Jose Manuel Elias bt Hernan Augusto Marino Osorio 9-7, 9-4, 9-2
Mauricio Dasso lost to Francisco Valecillo 9-10, 10-8, 8-10, 1-9
Andres Duany bt Luis Hernandes 9-3, 9-0, 9-0

Final positions: 1 Brazil, 2 Colombia, 3 Peru, 4 Venezuela

Women's qualifying rounds - Pool A:
[1] USA bt COLOMBIA 3-0
Natalie Grainger bt Silvia Angulo Rugeles 9-0, 9-0, 9-0
Michelle Quibell bt Catalina Pelaez 9-2, 9-1, 9-3
Latasha Khan bt Isabel Restrepo 9-2, 9-0, 10-8

COLOMBIA bt [4] BRAZIL 2-1
Silvia Angulo Rugeles bt Thaisa Serafini 9-6, 9-5, 9-1
Isabel Restrepo lost to Karen Redfern 9-5, 0-9, 0-9, 5-9
Catalina Pelaez bt Mariana Pontalti 10-8, 6-9, 9-6, 9-5

   Pool B:
[2] MEXICO bt ARGENTINA 3-0
Samantha Teran bt Luz Etchechoury 9-3, 9-4, 9-0
Nayelly Hernandez bt Fernanda Rocha 9-2, 9-5, 9-4
Karina Herrera Zuniga bt Antonella Falcione 9-3, 9-1, 9-3

[3] CANADA bt ARGENTINA 3-0
Runa Reta bt Luz Etchechoury 9-0, 9-0, 9-5
Alana Miller bt Antonella Falcione 9-4, 9-0, 9-1
Carolyn Russell bt Fernanda Rocha 9-3, 9-1, 9-1
 

14-Jul, Day One:
No shocks on day one

After the opening ceremony, it was down to business on the two glass courts at the Complexo Esportivo Miécimo da Silva.

Four straight-game wins in the women's event as Michelle Quibell won through to an all-USA quarter-final with Natalie Grainger, Brazilian veteran Karen Redfern set up a meeting with Canadian number one Runa Reta.

Alana Miller went through to face South American champion Thaisa Serafini, and Silvia Angulo kept Colombian hopes alive as she earned a match against Mexico's second seed Samantha Teran.

The men's first and second round matches also went pretty much as expected, with top seeds Shahier Razik and Eric Galvez progressing smoothly towards their expected clash in Monday's final.

Sunday is the busiest day with quarters and semis in both events ... 

14-Jul:
A grand opening
from Natalie Grainger's blog

Friday 13th could be seen as a bit of an unlucky day to many, but this day for us here in Brazil, held an amazing experience for us. The opening ceremony for the XV Pan American Games was scheduled for this evening, and the word on the street was that it was going to be an awesome show – and we weren’t disappointed!

All the US athletes met downstairs in our building at 3.50pm. The girls all dressed in their khaki golf shorts and red dri-fit shirts and the boys also in their khaki shorts and red polo shirts – there was a real buzz in the air, we were a team of 300 USA players and looking forward to walking out in front of one of the biggest assembled crowds in the world.

The bus trip down to the stadium was quite something in itself. We were all shepherded onto the buses, were reminded of what it was to represent your country and that we would be under the spotlight…and then we were off with a full police escort all the way to the stadium – super cool. (Security has been a major priority, but we are starting to get used to the police in body armor carrying sub-machine guns!)

On arriving at the stadium we were greeted by thousands of locals, some in fancy dress others just hanging around to catch a glimpse of the athletes and the show. The US team were mostly greeted with smiles and thumbs up gestures, parents lifted their children to get a better view in the bus and pictures were taken from both sides of the glass - but there was a crowd on the last corner we turned before entering the gates that rushed at the buses and gave us all the finger and booed…it was certainly something none of us had experienced before.   More
  

More from Natalie

13-Jul:
Team USA arrive
from Michelle Quibell's blog

After getting to Washington, checking in, receiving the USA gear from United States Olympic Committee and Boast apparel and familiarizing ourselves with the rules and procedures, the US squash team embarked on our travels and arrived into Rio de Janeiro on Monday (Natalie joined on Wed and Latasha arrives on July 15th).

We were escorted by Brazilian police to the Pan American village- a pastel safe haven providing all that an elite athlete would ever need, including Bob's milkshakes (a chain that is bigger than McDonald's in Brazil) and our very own discoteca, an athlete packed, non-alcoholic, fog infested night club starting at 7pm. The club is frequented by Chris Gordon as he tries out his salsa moves and practices his Spanish conversation skills.

Our fears that the village would only be half done when we arrived were calmed by the sight of the finished, vibrantly colored high rises with bordering outdoor pools. Each building is inhabited by different countries proudly hanging their flags from their balconies. Other amenities provided include a massive dining hall- buffet style- and workout facility, both of which are available 24 hours a day. Though this appears unnecessary, the Cubans have been known to eat dinner at 1:30am.  More
  

Court Schedule

More from Michelle

The USA has won ten medals in the past three events, and has high expectations of increasing that tally in Rio.

Natalie Grainger starts favourite for the women's gold medal, and in the team event she is backed up by 2003 champion Latasha Khan and two-time college champion Michelle Quibell as they aim to win the team event for the first time.

"The Pan Am Games are a really big event for Squash because we’re not yet an Olympic sport. This is the big event that we really look forward to. We’re really excited and pumped up for this tournament."

The men’s team is led by two youngsters and a veteran. Julian Illingworth is the team’s No. 1 player with Christopher Gordon No. 2 and Jamie Crombie No. 3. Illingworth is 23, Gordon is 20 and Crombie, who won a bronze medal for Canada in the 1995 event, is 41.

"We think this is one our best teams ever and hopefully we can continue to build and improve. We have some good young players and a good performance here could serve as a springboard for our team in the future."


 
"U.S. squash is coming up, and getting better and better. We’ve got some real good players. We’re looking forward to the challenge of this event."
 

All eyes on Grainger ...

Born in England, grew up in South Africa, living in the States for the last seven years - "I’m a little bit of a mutt," she says - Natalie Grainger became a US citizen in February and is really looking forward to her first Pan Am Games ...
 
"I kind of have goose bumps right now just thinking about how exciting the Opening Ceremonies will be on Friday night."

"I’m so excited, I can’t wait. To be in the stadium with all those people screaming and cheering, there’s nothing quite like it. It’s going to be very cool.

"I love being an American citizen. Having a chance to play for the U.S. is a tremendous honour for me."

"This is Natalie’s first major event since becoming a U.S. citizen. She’s a very, very good player and I’m excited to see what she can do."


Team USA Coach

The Venue

Coverage from SquashFlash

Brazil's Karen Redfern carries the Games Baton

SQUADS

Player Biographies

Pan American Games Squash Champions

Singles Champions:
1995: Heather Wallace (Can)
         Gary Waite (Can)
1999: Melanie Jans (Can)
         Graham Ryding (Can)
2003: Latasha Khan (Usa)
         Shahier Razik (Can)

Team Champions:
1995: Canada (Men & Women)
1999: Canada (Men & Women)
2003: Canada (M), USA (W)

Full details (pdf)

Official Games Site

The Torch Relay