2009 Panamerican Squash Championships

Day 1 was a good one for Team Canada and the results are all listed in the the press release that is posted above. All athletes had good wins and unfortunately I tough draw led to Andrew having to face the number 1 seed Eric Galvez of Mexico in the 2nd round, Andrew played him tough, but came up short falling 3-0. Above is a video highlight of Andrew's 1st round match against Javier Callista of Colombia. I will be trying to get lots of video footage up throughout the week, but it takes some time to put them together. I have also added some pictures that can be seen in the slide show in the post below.

An interesting item to note from today; the tins at the main club (Club Tangurhua) are 20 inches high not 19 inches high as they should be. Thankfully Yvon brought a tape measure with him and was able to confirm that they looked a little high.

After the matches concluded for the day the team dressed up on our Squash Canada track suites and headed out to the opening ceremonies. The ceremonies were a very elaborate function with carnival performers, dancers, singers and speeches, lots and lots of speeches. Although the ceremony was long, very long, the team managered to keep ourselves entertained. I have some pictures from the event posted on the slide show below. Eventually, as the singing continued and wine was being passed around team Canada excused ourselves to a team dinner at (and I quote from the individual that drove us there) "the best pizza place in Ambato". It was very good pizza indeed.

After dinner the team retired to our hotel to rest and prepare for another busy day tomorrow. Unfortunately, Tara and Sam have to play each other in the women's draw and Mike and David will have to play each other in the quarter finals if both advance tomorrow.

The full draw can now be seen here: http://www.squashflash.com/Torneos/Ecuador/XIX%20PanAm-09/XIX%20PanAm-Singles.html

I haven't convinced any players to do a video blog yet, but maybe tomorrow.

That's all for now,

Aaron