Racquetball – Champions
The International Racquetball Federation (IRF) works as the governing body for racquetball. It governs all worldwide events in racquetball including the World Racquetball Championship which was held in 1981 for the first time.
Besides IRF, there are two other organizations in racquetball which are International Racquetball Tour (IRT) and Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT).
IRT works as the professional racquetball organization for men and was founded in 1980s. LPRT works as the women’s professional racquetball organization and was founded in 2012.
The main championship events in racquetball are −
- World Racquetball Championships
- US Open Racquetball Championship
- World Junior Racquetball Championships
Let us now discuss briefly about some of the champions of Racquetball and their careers.
Marty Hogan
Marty Hogan is a racquetball player from Missouri, United States and is considered as one of the best racquetball player of all time.
He has won more than 100 international as well as national titles and six U.S national championships in his 14-year career.
Such was his efficiency in the sport that he was ranked either one or two in the world in between 1976 to 1990.
He has been named the Professional Racquetball Player of the Year eight times and was inducted in to USA Racquetball Hall of Fame in 1997.
Kane Waselenchuk
Kane Walselenchuk is a racquetball player from Alberta, Canada and is considered as one of the most dominant player in all time racquetball history.
He has been the number one player in IRT tour for the 10th time and as of now has won a record number of 137 matches in a row without defeat.
Beside the IRT tournaments, he has won a record 11 U.S national championships. In case of IRF World Championship, he has won one gold, two silvers and two bronzes till now.
Rocky Carson
Rocky Carson is a racquetball player from America who is currently the champion of Men’s Singles World Tournament. He won this title five times and established a record in the history of racquetball. He has won 24 IRT Tournaments till now.
In 2007-08 season he won seven tournaments and became number one IRT player. Before this season he had only three wins.
Carson has also won a gold medal in Pan American Games in 2015. He is also a winner of a gold in 2001 and a bronze in 2002 in the same event.