Wafe Risner Participants and guests,
Thank you for entering for entering the 2024 Wafe Risner Doubles Tournament honoring one of the great ambassadors of handball, Wafe Risner. He loved the game as he started playing at 19 and through his 90’s before his passing at 100. “Wafe was one of my number one fans,” recalls Sabrina Zamora. “He traveled to all tournaments and watched every match I played as a junior”. His legacy lives on as Court#2 at the LAAC is the ‘Wafe Risner Court’ while Court#1 is the “Jim Jacobs Court’. The quality of handball on both courts during Sunday’s finals would have made them both proud.
In the Open division, the #3 seeded and hometown duo, Vic Perez and Mando Ortiz, fended off the #2 seed and Tucson’s Sam Esser and Shorty Ruiz in the final group pairing before narrowly defeating the #1 seed and Mexico’s Luis and Daniel Cordova 21-20, 21-20 in the final with a great display of defense and front court coverage.
In the A’s division, High Desert’s Marty and Alex Gonzalez took Cesar Carlos and David Lara to a thrilling tiebreaker that lasted almost 2 hours with the Gonzalez brothers proving too much for the Norco team.
The 100’s combined age division featured former World Champion, John Bike, and Chris Watkin’s defeating LAAC’s very own, Eli Barajas and Mario Rueda cruising to a convincing victory after a cold start in the first game.
The 120’s combined age division had Greg Tomasyan and Joe Pacheco knocking off Tom Martinez and Ralph Fregoso in a victory sealed by Tomasyan’s roll out after being down 19-15 in the second game.
Thanks to the LAAC donors who contributed towards the success of the tournament including my fellow LAAC committee members: Stephen Cooney (great job running the desk), Ryan Watkins, and Vic Perez.
Special thanks to Diana Mejia for her photography; see link for her photographs:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/nzu5dsso75utgyrms9ii8/AJSLPR2QXSqQo_tn4F8GjcQ?rlkey=yiqmak8ywnhoiaz2nc8yyb3g8&st=w3k6y0ug&dl=0
Vist https://www.facebook.com/SoCalHandball/ and https://wphlive.tv/2024-25-wph-icebreaker-and-race-4-eight-schedule-and-entries/ for more coverage.
Attached is the poster signed by the players and guests which will be added to the historic LAFD and SCHA Hall of Fame collection on the 8th floor.
Enjoy the holidays and see everyone in 2025!
Rafael Martinez
(310) 880-4365
