Gold & silver for Canada at Pan Am Racquetball Championships

The men's doubles team of Vincent Gagnon of Longueuil, Que. and François Viens of Montreal won gold for Canada at the Pan American Racquetball Championships in Santiago, Chile. It's the first time since 1992 that Canada has won gold in men's doubles at the Pan American Championships.

Gagnon and Viens won the first Pan American gold for Canada in men's doubles since 1992 against the American team of Andy Hawthorne and Jason Samora, as the Canadians took game one, lost game two, but won the tie-breaker and the match, 15-6, 11-15, 11-9.

The US team has won gold at the Pan American Championships in all but two years previously dating back to 1986. In 1992, Canadians Mike Ceresia and Roger Harripersad won the Tournament of the Americas, as the Pan American Championships were then called.

Kris Odegard of Saskatoon will come home with silver this year after winning gold at last year's Pan American Championships in Guatemala. Odegard lost to Alvaro Beltran of Mexico, 15-6, 15-8, in the final. It was Beltran's second victory over a Canadian in as many days, as he beat Mike Green of Burlington, Ont. on Friday in the semi-finals.

In women's play, American Rhonda Rajsich was a double gold medalist, as she won both singles and doubles. In singles, Rajsich defeated Samatha Salas of Mexico, 15-7, 10-15, 11-3, and she won doubles with Janel Tisinger beating Bolivians Carola Loma and Jenny Daza, 15-5, 15-8.

Canada's complete medal count from Chile is four, as Mike Green of Burlington, Ont. and the women's doubles team of Linda Ellerington (Shields, Sask.) and Véronique Guillemette (Calgary) earned bronze medals on Friday. This is one more medal than last year, when Odegard won gold, and the women's doubles team of Guillemette and Josée Grand'Maître (Longueuil, Que.) and men's doubles team of Green and Brian Istace (Calgary) both earned bronze medals.

Thirteen countries competed in the 2007 Pan American Racquetball Championships in Santiago, Chile.