A Dramatic Turn at Racquetball Final

(ATR) The men’s singles final in racquetball was guaranteed to produce the first Mexican gold medalist in the event in Pan American Games history.

But no one was expecting the all-Mexican encounter between Alvaro Beltran and Rodrigo Montoya to be determined by such a dramatic incident.

Beltran, who had won the first game 15-9 and while trailing 6-2 in the second, crashed into the glass door of the court during a rally. The door shattered and left Beltran cut and on the floor surrounded by glass. After several minutes of treatment by medical staff, he got up and left to be bandaged.

The match was moved from its original court to an adjacent one, since it no longer had a door. After about 20 minutes, Beltran returned with heavy bandages on most of his lower left leg and additional wrappings on his right leg and left hand.

While he gamely worked to get back in the match, he was obviously a step slower. That, combined with a much improved serve from Montoya after the break, was the difference as Montoya won the second game 15-6 and then cruised home with a 11-0 whitewashing in the tiebreak.

Beltran told Around the Rings after the match that while he was in pain and has "a few pieces of glass in my body", the biggest difference for him after the incident was not physical.

"It was more mental. The momentum changed. I had the match mentally won. I had him out. But that gave him the spark to come back and change the game and serve well. All the credit to him. He showed a lot of maturity."

Montoya agreed that his serve was the difference, telling ATR "after that (incident), I focused more on my serve and it worked and finally I was able to win the match."

He called becoming the first Mexican to win the gold medal in men’s singles "a dream come true".

Montoya admitted he was worried about Beltran when he went down in a shower of glass, saying the two are teammates and the team competition is still to come in Lima.

He shouldn’t be too concerned. Beltran says "it takes a lot more than this to keep me from playing."

Later in the day, Montoya won another gold medal in the men's doubles, alongside Javier Mar.

Mexico swept all four of the medal events on Wednesday, with Paola Longoria winning in both the women's singles and doubles.

Homepage photo: LIma 2019

Written and reported by Gerard Farekin Lima.

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