Álvaro Beltrán (born October 15, 1978), is a Mexican professional

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...

player. Beltrán is the curren
International Racquetball Federation
(IRF) World Champion in Men's Doubles with Daniel De La Rosa, winning the title in 2022 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. He was the second man to win both Men's Singles and Men's Doubles at the

Racquetball World Championships The World Racquetball Championships is the top international racquetball competition organized by the International Racquetball Federation (IRF). History The first event was held in 1981 as part of the 1981 World Games. The second World Championsh ...

. His six world titles (1 singles & 5 doubles) tie him for 3rd most in IRF history. Beltran has been a top 10 player on the

International Racquetball Tour The International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is the leading professional racquetball organization for men's competition. It was founded in 1991 and is the successor to previous iterations of the tour by different names. Professional Men's racquetbal ...

(IRT) for 18 seasons.

Professional career

Beltrán was the first Mexican to be ranked in the top 10 IRT at season's end in 2000-01, and has been a top 10 IRT player in 18 seasons finishing at #3 (his career high) four times.http://www.bossconsulting.com/irt/ IRT Historical Data Archive He won his first IRT event in 2013 when he defeated fellow Mexican Daniel De La Rosa in the final of the Red Swain Shootout. Beltran's second win came in November 2015 at the Galaxy Custom Printing Pro-Am in Atlanta, where he defeated

Rocky Carson Rocky Carson (born May 21, 1979) is an American professional racquetball player. Carson's a formeInternational Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Champion in Men's Singles – a title he's won a record five times. He has been the season ending # ...

, in the final, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4. Overall, Beltrán has been in 35 finals in 178 appearances on tour, which is 6th most all time. Beltrán has been in the finals of the

US Open Racquetball Championships The UnitedHealthcare US Open Racquetball Championships is the premier professional racquetball event. It is a Grand Slam event with men and women competing from the International Racquetball Tour and Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour, respectivel ...

twice: once in 2010 and again in 2014. He was the first Mexican to do so. He lost both finals to

Kane Waselenchuk Kane Waselenchuk (born November 9, 1981) is a professional racquetball player born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Waselenchuk finished the 2018-19 season as the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tourbr> (IRT)for a record extending 13th ti ...

but did win the first game of 2010 final, which was Waselenchuk's first loss of a game in six US Open finals. 2010 final was the first US Open final with two non-American players. Also of note, Beltrán is one of only two players to beat IRT #1 Waselenchuk in a completed match, since Waselenchk's return to the IRT tour in the fall of 2008. That win occurred at the 2009 California Open when Beltrán defeated Waslenchuk in four games in the semi-finals.

International career

Beltrán is the only racquetball player to win

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in both Men's Singles and Men's Doubles. Beltrán won Men's Singles at the 2000 Racquetball World Championships hosted by the International Racquetball Federation in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, defeating American

in the final. He has won Men's Doubles thrice, all with Javier Moreno. Most recently, he and Moreno won the 2016 Worlds Championships in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, where they defeated Americans Jake Bredenbeck and Jose Diaz in the final, 15-12, 15-9. Beltran and Moreno first won Men's Doubles in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, defeating Americans Carson and

Jack Huczek Jack Huczek (born January 13, 1983) is a retired American racquetball player. Huczek was a 3 timInternational Racquetball Federation (IRF)World Champion in Men's Singles, and he was the #1 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) player at the end of ...

in the final, and then six years later in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, defeating Americans Tony Carson and Jansen Allen. Both those wins were in

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

. Beltrán and Moreno also won the gold medals in doubles at

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, and

2011 Pan Am Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán ...

. In 2003, they beat Americans Ruben Gonzalez and Mike Guidry in the final, and in 2011 final, defeated Venezuelans Cesar Castillo and Jorge Hirsekorn. Beltrán also won gold in the team competition at the

. In addition, Beltrán won three consecutive

Pan American Championships A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the most ...

in Men's Singles from 2007–2009, and the 2015 Pan Am Championship in Men's Doubles with Javier Moreno. He is a two time the gold medalist in Men's Singles at the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...

, as he defeated countrymen Gilberto Meija in 2010 final and Daniel De La Rosa in 2014 final, 15-7, 15-2. In 2018, Beltrán and Rodrigo Montoya captured gold at the

Temuco Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

by defeating Bolivians Roland Keller and Conrrado Moscoso in the final, 13-15, 15-10, 11-6.

References

External links