USA Sails in Team Pools
July 1, 2004, By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004

Pools Over, Main Draw Begins By Rob Dinerman

After winning Pool A over the past few days by defeating Mexico, Guatemala and Bermuda without dropping a single match, the American women, defending champions by virtue of the gold medal they won last summer at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, have been seeded No. 1 in the eight-team championship draw that begins later today in Tepic, Mexico.

The U. S. men also won all three of their pool matches (against Bermuda, Canada and Guatemala) and are therefore byed to the quarter-finals of the 11-team tournament, in which their likely strongest challengers Mexico and Argentina, whose respective top players Erick Galvez and Jorge Gutierrez opposed each other in the final of the individual tournament this past weekend, are in the opposite half of the draw.

Chris Walker, new USA coach; photo © 2004 R Beck

The foregoing is a very fortuitous turn for the U. S. squad, whose new coach, former PSA star and 2001 British Open finalist Chris Walker, has been the object of much media attention as he makes his coaching debut in his newly appointed post. Walker has been extensively interviewed in recent days by both Spanish and English reporters, while his team prepares for what should be a fairly straightforward match against the winner of El Salvador vs. Chile. A Colombian team that the U. S. defeated last year is the likely semi-final opponent, so the American men have a solid opportunity to reach the final round of this Pan Am Federation Cup for the first time in the decade-plus since this event was established in the early 1990's.

Meanwhile, if the heavily favored American women can win their first match against Chile, they will get to play either Bermuda or Colombia in the semis. In the bottom half, Argentina plays Canada and Mexico goes against Guatemala. Mexican star Samantha Teran, who won a closer-than-the-score 9-5, 4 and 7 gold-medal Individuals match against American Meredeth Quick, did not play in the USA vs. Mexico pools match on Tuesday, and if these teams, as expected, meet in the final this weekend, she of course will be back in the line-up.

Back as well in the American line-up by then is expected to be Louisa Hall, a veteran (as is Quick) of that Pan American Games team gold-medal last summer, who sprained her ankle so badly at the very tail-end of her quarter-final Individuals victory over Canadian Lauren Polonich that she had to default her semi with Quick. Originally there had been concern about Hall's availability at any stage of the team event, given the lack of interceding time and the swelling and discoloration of her ankle, but she has recovered remarkably quickly, even to the point of playing some points with a teammate yesterday, and team manager Karen Schmidt-Fellner feels that the 22-year-old Harvard all-American will be ready to go by the time the important late-tournament matches arrive.

POOLS RECAP

MEN:
Pool 1:
USA def Canada 3-0
USA def Guatemala 3-0
USA def Bermuda 3-0
Bermuda def Canada 2-1
Bermuda def Guatemala 3-0
Canada def Guatemala 2-1
1. USA 2. Bermuda 3. Canada 4. Guatemala

Pool 2:
Argentina def Ecuador 3-0
Argentina def El Salvador 3-0
Ecuador def El Salvador 2-1
1. Argentina 2. Ecuador 3. El Salvador

Pool 3:
Mexico def Columbia 2-1
Mexico def Venezuela 3-0
Mexico def Chile 3-0
Columbia def Venezuela 3-0
Columbia def Chile 2-1
Chile def Venezuela 3-0
1. Mexico 2. Columbia 3. Chile 4. Venezuela

WOMEN:
Pools Round Results:
Pool A:
USA def Mexico 2-1
USA def Guatemala 3-0
USA def Bermuda 3-0
Mexico def Guatemala 3-0
Mexico def Bermuda 3-0
Guatemala def Bermuda 2-1
1. USA 2. Mexico 3. Guatemala 4. Bermuda

Pool B:
Canada def Columbia 2-1
Canada def Argentina 3-0
Canada def Chile 2-1
Columbia def Argentina 3-0
Columbia def Chile 2-1
Chile def Argentina 2-1
1. Canada
2. Columbia
3. Chile
4. Argentina

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2004. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2004 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.