Paola Longoria
.svg.png){kind=icon}
.svg.png){kind=icon}
.svg.png){kind=icon}
Paola Michelle Longoria López (born July 20, 1989) is a Mexican racquetball player. She's the three time reigning International Racquetball Federation World Champion in Women's Singles. She has also been World Champion in Women's Doubles, and is the only woman to have won both singles and doubles at Worlds. Longoria is also the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) tour, and was the first Mexican woman to attain the #1 pro ranking, doing so at the end of the 2008-09 season. She repeated the feat at the end of 2009–2010 season, and has been #1 for the last five seasons. Longoria's style is characterized by a semi-western grip of the racquet, which is unusual for racquetball; Longoria is the only pro player using this grip style.
Professional career
Longoria was undefeated on the LPRT for three and a half years, from May 2011 to October 2014. Overall, she's won 69 Tier 1 or Grand Slam events on the LPRT, including seven US Opens. In the 2014 US Open, Longoria beat Maria Jose Vargas in the first US Open final to feature two non-US players. In 2016, Longoria and Samantha Salas played the first US Open final between two Mexican players, with Longoria beating her long time doubles partner, 11-3, 11-7, 11-3. Longoria's beaten Rhonda Rajsich in four US Open finals: 2015, 2013, 2012 and 2011. Her first US Open win was in 2008[1] when she beat Cheryl Gudinas in the final, becoming the first Mexican – woman or man – to win that event or even reach the US Open final.
Her first women's pro tournament win was the Outback Steakhouse Blast It! tournament in Fayetteville, N.C., September 13-16, 2007, when she defeated Rajsich in the final, 12-14, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7.[2]
Longoria finished as the #1 pro player at the end of five pro seasons: 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16.[3]
International career
Longoria won Women's Singles at the 2016 World Championships in Cali, Colombia, where she defeated Gabriela Martinez of Guatemala in the final, 15-12, 15-7. She defeated Maria Jose Vargas in the semi-finals, 15-5, 15-5. In Cali, Longoria and team-mate Samantha Salas lost the Women's Doubles final to Americans Aimee Ruiz and Janel Tisinger, 15-11, 9-15, 11-8. In the semis, they defeated Bolivians Jenny Daza and Adriana Riveros, 15-5, 15-5. The gold in singles was Longoria's 6th gold at Worlds, putting her one behind Jackie Paraiso, but Paraiso's 7 gold are all in doubles, while Longoria has won three in singles and three in doubles.
Earlier in 2016, Longoria won gold in both Women's Singles and Women's Doubles, with Salas, at the Pan American Championships in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.[4] She defeated Canadian Frédérique Lambert in the singles final, 15-3, 15-6, and Americans Kelani Bailey and Michelle Key, 15-5, 15-10.
In 2014, Longoria won both Women's Singles and Doubles at the World Championships in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, where she defeated American Rhonda Rajsich in the singles final and with Samantha Salas beat Americans Aimee Ruiz and Janel Tisinger. This was a successful defense of the titles she first won in 2012 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where Longoria defeated Canadian Jennifer Saunders in the singles final[5] to become the first Mexican woman to be World Champion.
Her 2014 doubles win was the third World Championship for her and Samantha Salas, as they also won in 2012 and 2010, which was the first time a Mexican team had won Women's Doubles at Worlds. In the 2012 final, they defeated the Chilean team of Angela Grisar and Carla Muñoz, while in 2010, they beat the American pair of Aimee Ruiz and Jackie Paraiso in the final.
Longoria has twice won three gold medals for Mexico at the Pan American Games. In both the 2011 Pan Am Games and the 2015 Pan Am Games she swept gold in the women's competitions, winning Women's Singles, Women's Doubles as well as the Women's Team event.[6] Samantha Salas was her doubles partner in both years.
Longoria has won 9 Pan American Championships – 6 in Women's Singles (in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015.[7]) and 3 in Women's Doubles (2011, 2012 and 2015, all with Salas). Her 9 Pan Am Championship titles are second most by a woman trailing only American Jackie Paraiso, who's won ten.
Longoria is the two time Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalist in Women's Singles, winning in 2010, and 2014, when she also won gold in Women's Doubles with Salas.
Longoria has won two gold medals at the World Games. In 2009, she defeated American Rhonda Rajsich in the final and in 2013, beat Cristina Amaya in the final.
Also, Longoria won eight consecutive International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Championships from 2001 to 2008, winning twice in each age category: 12 and under, 14 and under, 16 and under, and 18 and under.[8]
Other honors
Longoria received the 2010 National Sports Award from the Mexican government. Mexican President Felipe Calderón presented Longoria with the award.[9]
In 2013, Forbes Magazine's Mexico edition named Longoria as one of the 50 most influential women in Mexico.[10]
Longoria was Mexico's flagbearer during the 2015 Pan American Games opening ceremony.[11]
References
- ↑ http://usaracquetball.com/RecordBooks/USOpenChampions.aspx
- ↑ http://www.racquetball.ca/en/newsletter/2007/oct2007.html
- ↑ http://www.wprotour.com/player_bios/athletes_paola.html
- ↑ http://theracquetballblog.blogspot.ca/2016/03/mexico-sweeps-gold-at-2016-pan-american.html
- ↑ http://www.sirc.ca/news_view.cfm?id=47660
- ↑ http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/Eng/09_Multimedia/noticias_view.asp?id_noticia=4413
- ↑ http://www.internationalracquetball.com/parc/00trnams.htm
- ↑ http://www.internationalracquetball.com/juniors/01irfjrs.htm
- ↑ http://portal2.dgi.uanl.mx/noticias/descripcion.php?id_not=6719&lang=en
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=403625803071832&set=a.403625683071844.1073741869.301003216667425&type=3&theater
- ↑ "Paola Longoria, abanderada de México para Juegos Panamericanos" [Paola Longoria, flagbearer of Mexico for Pan American Games]. http://www.excelsior.com.mx/ (in Spanish). adrenalina360. Retrieved 28 June 2015. External link in
|website=(help)
See also
- List of racquetball players
- LPRT page for Paola Longoria
- Mexican Racquetball Federation page for Paola Longoria
- Paola Longoria's Twitter page
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rhonda Rajsich Rhonda Rajsich |
#1 Women's Pro Racquetball Player 2008–2010 2011–2014 |
Succeeded by Rhonda Rajsich Current |