Iwaasa captures national doubles gold
AFTER TWO-YEAR HIATUS, COBY IWAASA IS BACK EARNING RACQUETBALL HONOURS
For nearly two years, Coby Iwaasa didn’t set foot on a racquetball court.
After returning to the sport late last year, the Lethbridge racquetball star who will turn 22 next month is making up for his time away.
On Tuesday, Iwaasa and partner Samuel Murray from Quebec won the Racquetball Canada National Championship doubles gold medal in Winnipeg.
With the gold medal secured, Iwaasa’s week isn’t done yet as he goes for his second national singles championship.
He won his first in 2015 before heading to Japan for his mission and the resulting two-year hiatus of swinging a racquet.
However, Iwaasa guaranteed he’ll leave Winnipeg with at least one medal after he and Murray defeated Quebec’s Nicolas Bousquet and Tommy Murray — Samuel’s brother — 15-13, 10-15, 116 in the gold medal game Tuesday.
“It was nice to have that one under my belt because I just got back six or seven months ago from Japan with the two-year break of not hitting a ball or touching a racquet,” said Iwaasa, on the phone from Winnipeg Wednesday night.
“Then coming back and trying to get to the level where I was and trying to remember what I did, it was interesting. During that game, my body was reacting the way it used to. So it felt like I was back at the form I need it to be.”
After two years in Japan, Iwaasa returned to the court in November of last year, placing third in the First National Select Event in Vernon, B.C.
“I got back to Canada (in late) October and two weeks afterwards I was already off to Vernon for a tournament,” he said. “I had no clue how I was going to do. I just thought I’d give it a shot.
“The body remembers — the brain does and the body does. It was a nice eyeopener for me and it gave me a lot of motivation to continue to try to get back to my form.”
The return to form continues today as Iwaasa takes on Lee Connell from Saskatchewan in the quarter-final of the Men’s Single Open Gold division at 5 p.m., local time, after defeating Ian Frattinger of Saskatchewan on Wednesday.
The semifinals go Friday at 6 p.m. with the gold medal game taking place Saturday at 1 p.m.
The location of this year’s World Championship in August has yet to be determined, but Iwaasa’s gold in doubles boosts his chances of qualifying and will only be further solidified the further he goes in singles.
“I think my chances right now are very high, but of course singles are playing a factor,” he said. “If I make the semifinals, my chances are very high to be going.”