Herrera/Vargas & Grainger/Sobhy Win
Doubles PanAm Games Gold
Colombian duo Andrés
Herrera & Juan Vargas and US pairing Natalie Grainger
& Amanda Sobhy were the unexpected gold medallists in the Pan
American Games squash doubles championships at the Exhibition
Centre in Toronto, Canada.
Herrera and Vargas, both
unranked and making their PanAm Games debuts, began their shock journey
to the men's final after upsetting top-seeded Argentineans Robertino
Pezzota & Leandro Romiglio in the quarter-finals. The
unheralded pair went on to take out higher-seeded Peruvians Andres
Duany & Diego Elias to set up a final clash with Andrew
Schnell & Graeme Schnell, fellow 5/8 seeds from Canada.
Herrera, 19, and 21-year-old
Vargas (pictured above - in yellow - with fellow men's medallists) took
just 20 minutes to despatch Calgary's Schnell brothers 11-6, 11-3 to
claim Colombia's second gold medal of the Games, following the men's
singles triumph by world No.4 Miguel Angel Rodriguez.
Grainger and Sobhy were
unseeded in the women's event - but wasted little time securing their
place in the women's final after beating Brazilians Tatiana Damasio
Borges & Giovanna Veiga and second-seeded Colombians
Catalina Pelaez & Laura Tovar.
"It's not often you finish
a match you've lost and feel awesome," said
Canadian No.1 Samantha Cornett after she and partner Nikki
Todd took the US pair the full distance before going down 11-9,
9-11, 11-6.
"Fans came to the women's
doubles for excitement - and found it," said
World Squash Federation Vice President Linda MacPhail
(action from the final pictured above). "The
match was frantic and once the players took a break after the second
game, it became a turning point."
The triumph provided a second
PanAm Games gold medal for both US partners (pictured above) -
38-year-old former world No.1 Grainger adding to her singles success in
Brazil in 2007, and Sobhy, the 22-year-old world No.10 from New York,
claiming her second in 24 hours after her Toronto singles title success.
"GOLD MEDAL for Team USA
in the Doubles tonight!" Sobhy told her
Twitters followers later. "So stoked to secure
my 2nd PanAm gold medal tonight"
RESULTS: Pan American
Games Squash Championships, Toronto, Canada
Men's Doubles
quarter-finals:
[5/8] Andrés Herrera & Juan Vargas (COL) bt [1]
Robertino Pezzota & Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 8-11, 11-6, 11-4
[3/4] Andres Duany & Diego Elias (PER) bt [5/8] Max
Camiruaga & Sebastian Gallegos (CHI) 11-4, 11-7
[3/4] Christopher Gordon & Chris Hanson (USA) bt [5/8]
Bryan Bonilla & Josue Enriquez (GUA) 11-10, 11-7
[5/8] Andrew Schnell & Graeme Schnell (CAN) bt [2] Eric
Galvez & Arturo Salazar (MEX) 11-8, 10-11, 11-10
Semi-finals:
[5/8] Andrés Herrera & Juan Vargas (COL) bt [3/4]
Andres Duany & Diego Elias (PER) 11-5, 11-2 (27m)
[5/8] Andrew Schnell & Graeme Schnell (CAN) bt [3/4]
Christopher Gordon & Chris Hanson (USA) 11-10, 11-6 (39m)
Final:
[5/8] Andrés Herrera & Juan Vargas (COL) bt [5/8]
Andrew Schnell & Graeme Schnell (CAN) 11-6, 11-3 (20m)
Women's Doubles
quarter-finals:
[1] Samantha Teran & Karla Urrutia (MEX) bt Giselle
Delgado & Anita Pinto (CHI) 11-9, 8-11, 11-7
[3/4] Samantha Cornett & Nikki Todd (CAN) bt Pamela
Anckermann & Winifer Bonilla (GUA) 11-7, 11-5
Natalie Grainger & Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [3/4] Tatiana
Damasio Borges & Giovanna Veiga (BRA) 11-3, 11-10
[2] Catalina Pelaez & Laura Tovar (COL) bt Maria
Antonella Falcione & Fernanda Rocha (ARG) 11-2, 11-6
Semi-finals:
[3/4] Samantha Cornett & Nikki Todd (CAN) bt [1]
Samantha Teran & Karla Urrutia (MEX) 11-2, 11-7 (30m)
Natalie Grainger & Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [2] Catalina
Pelaez & Laura Tovar (COL) 11-6, 11-6 (18m)
Final:
Natalie Grainger & Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [3/4] Samantha
Cornett & Nikki Todd (CAN) 11-9, 9-11, 11-6 (32m)
PanAm images courtesy
of Paige Stewart
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