XII Pan American Squash Championships
Quito, Ecuador, 21-31 August

Canada's team arrive in QuitoDOUBLE TEAM GOLD FOR CANADA
Canada won the gold medal in both the men's and women's team competitions.

In the women's final, the Canadians defeated USA 3-0.  For the second straight day, Melanie Jans of Toronto played the pivotal second match and once again the contest went to five games as she defeated American No1 Latasha Khan 9-7, 9-4, 2-9, 3-9, 9-0 to clinch the title for Canada.

Marnie Baizley of Winnipeg opened the tie with a 9-2, 9-7, 9-1 win over Julia Beaver and Lauren Wagner of Victoria took the third match 9-2, 9-4 over Shabana Khan.

"My semi-final match had pretty much killed me," said Jans, Canada's number-one ranked player.  "With the altitude I'm not use to feeling the same kind of fatigue.  But I've played Latasha before and I know her game. My plan worked for awhile but I started shooting a bit too much. I was able to refocus for the fifth game.  It's nice to win, it gives us confidence."

Louise Lefebvre of Montreal is the other team member.  The Canadian women won the Pan Am title in 2000 but did not enter last year in the aftermath of September 11.

In the men's final, Sabir Butt of Mississauga, Ontario, won the third and deciding match to lift Canada to a 2-1 victory over Argentina. It's the first ever Pan Am championships title for the Canadian men, although they have won the past two Pan Am Games titles.

Butt defeated Rodrigo Perresta 9-2, 9-7, 9-4.  Shawn DeLierre of Brossard, Quebec, provided Canada a 1-0 lead but Viktor Berg of Richmond, B.C. - who was playing despite a hip injury - lost the second match.  Ian Power of Montreal, ill with the flu, is the fourth team member.

"The goal for the men was to win the gold," said Canadian coach Ian Paton of Edmonton. "Unfortunately we started to run into injury problems. The guys came through with an incredible effort tonight."

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS - 27-31 Aug

Men's Team Final:  Canada 2 x 1 Argentina
Women's Team Final:  Canada 3 x 1 USA

MEN'S SEMI-FINALS:
Canadá 2 x 1 Brasil

Sabir Butt 3 x 2 Ronivaldo Santos  9-6, 4-9, 6-9, 9-3, 9-3
Rafael Alarcon 3 x 0 Viktor Berg  9-8, 9-1, 7-0 (retired)
Shawn Delierre 3 x 2 Luciano Barbosa  4-9, 0-9, 9-5, 9-1, 9-3
Argentina 3 x 0 Colômbia
 
WOMEN'S SEMI-FINALS
Canadá 3 x 0 Mexico
Usa 3 x 0 Brasil

Men's group stages:
Pool A: 1st Mexico, 2nd Ecuador, 3rd Salvador, 4th Jamaica
Pool B: 1st Brazil, 2nd Colombia, 3rd Paraguay, 4th Chile
Pool C: 1st Argentina, 2nd USA, 3rd Peru, 4th Dominica
Pool D: 1st Canada, 2nd Guatemala, , 3rd Bermuda, 4th Venezuela
(in all cases 1st place won 3 matches, 2nd place two, 3rd place one)

Women's group stages:
Pool A: 1st Mexico, 2nd Guatemala, 3rd Venezuela
Pool B: 1st USA, 2nd Argentina, 3rd Chile
Pool C: 1st Canada, 2nd Brazil, 3rd Ecuador
Pool D: 1st Salvador, 2nd Jamaica, 3rd Colombia
(in all cases 1st place won both  matches, 2nd place one)

 Men's Quarters:
Colômbia 2 x 1 México *
Argentina 3 x 0 El Salvador
Canadá 2 x 1 USA
Brasil 3 x 0 Equador

Men's knockout stage:
Mexico 3 x 0 Venezuela
Colômbia 3 x 0 Peru
El Salvador 2 x 1 Guatemala
Argentina 3 x 0 Chile
Canadá 3 x 0 Jamaica
Estados Unidos 3 x 0 Paraguai
Equador 2 x 1 Bermudas
Brasil 3 x 0 Dominicana

Women's Quarters:
México beat Argentina
Canadá 3 x 0 Jamaica
Brasil beat El salvador
USA 3 x 0 Guatemala *

Women's knockout stage:
Mexico vs bye
Equador vs Argentina
Jamaica 3 x 0 Venezuela
Canadá vs bye
El Salvador vs bye
Brasil 3 x 0 Chile
Guatemala vs Colômbia
Estados Unidos vs bye Pan-Ams Photo Gallery from SquashFlash



the Brazilian Team
 

MEN'S Final:
Jorge Gutierrez (Arg) bt Eric Galvez (Mex)  9/7, 9/5, 9/3

Third Place Playoff
Conceição bt Alarcon 3-1

Semi-Finals:
Jorge Gutierrez (Arg) bt Ronivaldo Conceição (Bra)  3/0
Eric Galvez (Mex) bt Rafael Alarcon (Bra)  6/9, 9/5, 1/9, 9/1, 10/9

Quarter-Finals:
J Gutierrez (Arg) bt F Torrez (Col) 9/2, 9/4, 9/3
R Santos (Bra) bt S Delierre (Can) 10/9, 9/5, 9/7
R Alarcon (Bra) bt B Samper (Col) 8/10, 9/3, 9/4, 9/0
E Galvez (Mex) bt P Quick (Usa) 9/4, 9/3, 10/9

Third Round:
[1] J Gutierrez (Arg) bt S Butt (Can) 7/9, 0/9, 9/1, 10/9, 9/5
F Torrez (Col) bt S Montoya (Col)  9/9, 7/9, 9/7, 3/9, 9/6
R Santos (Bra) bt M Kaplun (Chi)  9/4, 9/3, 9/3
S Delierre (Can) bt [4] I Power (Can)  9/10, 9/3, 9/2, 9/7
R Alarcon (Bra) bt V [3] Berg (Can)  9/7, 9/6, 8/10, 9/1
B Samper (Col) bt H Barragon (Mex)  9/1, 9/3, 9/4
P Quick (Usa) bt L Barbosa (Bra)  9/6, 9/5, 9/1
[2] E Galvez (Mex) bt D Walker (Usa)  9/4, 3/9, 9/3, 9/1

WOMEN'S Final:
Samantha Teran (Mex) bt Marnie Baizley (Can)  9/5, 9/4 9/1

Third Place Playoff
Jans bt Redfern 6/9,  9/1, 10/8, 9/0

Semi-Finals:
Samantha Teran (Mex) bt Melanie Jans (Can)  5/9, 10/8,  9/5, 9/1
Marnie Baizley (Can) bt Karen Redfern (Bra)  9/5, 8/10, 9/0, 10/8

Quarter-Finals:
M Jans (Can) bt L Wagner (Can) 9/6, 9/7, 9/7
S Teran (Mex) bt D Huerta (Mex) 9/0, 9/0, 9/1
M Baizley (Can) bt I Restrepo (Col) 9/2, 9/0, 9/3
K Redfearn (Bra) bt J Beaver (Usa) 9/0, 9/1, 7/9, 9/6

Women's Third Round:
L Wagner (Can) bt [1] L Khan (Usa) 5/9, 9/7, 8/9, 9/6, 9/3
M Jans (Can) bt K Herrera (Mex) 9/2, 9/0, 9/1
S Teran (Mex) bt M Quick (Usa) 9/2, 9/0, 9/2
D Huerta (Mex) bt F Aisenberg (Esa) 9/6, 9/2, 10/8
M Baizley (Can) bt L Lefevre (Can) 9/3, 9/3, 9/4
I Restrepo (Col) bt A Bello (Bra) 9/3, 9/0, 9/0
J Beaver (Usa) bt C Vega (Sal) 9/0, 9/1, 7/9, 9/6
K Redfearn (Bra) bt [2] S Khan (Usa) 9/4, 8/10, 9/4, 9/1

TOP MEN THROUGH
In the men's event top seeds Jorge Gutierrez of Argentina and Mexico's Eric Galvez both defeated Brazilian opposition in the semis before Gutierrez went on to claim the title.

TERAN TRIUMPHS
Canada's hopes of an all-Canadian final vanished as Mexico's Samantha Teran defeated Melanie Jans in the semi-finals before beating Marnie Baizley in the final, forcing Canada to settle for silver and bronze.

FRIDAY'S FIRE DRAMA
Bush fires came within a half mile of the squash facility, which caused black-outs and cut off the water supply to the building. Play was delayed in the afternoon but resumed on Friday night as fire fighters regained control of the blaze.