Mike Ceresia is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired

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 from

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes w ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. He was a member of five Canadian teams that won gold 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 ...

, which is the most gold medals won by a Canadian at th
International Racquetball Federation
(IRF) World Championships. He also won 10 Canadian Championships (two singles and eight doubles).

International career

Ceresia represented Canada on 18 occasions between 1988 and 2002, including eight consecutive

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, ...

during that period. His lowest finish at the World Championships was fourth. Ceresia was a member on the Canadian men's team that won gold four times: 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2002, as well as a gold medal for Overall/Combined Team in 2000. Ceresia and his partners won the deciding match for the men's team title in 1988, 2000 and 2002. These three clinching victories were over the United States. Ceresia was the men's doubles silver medalist at Worlds on four occasions: in 1988 with Paul Shanks, in 1990 with Ross Harvey, in 1996 with Simon Roy, and in 2002 with Mike Green. Ceresia was also a World silver medallist in men's singles in 1994. Ceresia was a Pan American Games silver medalist in the Men's Team event in Mar Del Plata, Argentina in 1995.

Canadian career

Ceresia was the Canadian Champion in Men's Singles twice: in 1992 and in 1997. He was Canadian National Doubles Champion in Men's Doubles on eight occasions. His first two doubles titles were back to back in 1988 with Roger Harripersad and 1989 with Paul Shanks. He next won in 1993 with Jacques Demers. Ceresia's most successful partnership was with Simon Roy. They won three consecutive championships, from 1995 to 1997. Ceresia won in 2000 with Mike Green and his final championship came in 2002 with Gary Waite. His 10 Canadian Championships tie him for third most men's championships with Sherman Greenfeld. Ceresia signed Kane Waselenchuk (current World Number 1) to his first major racquetball contract.

Personal life

Ceresia has a BA from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

. He was inducted into the Sarnia-Lambton Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, He was inducted into th
Racquetball Canada
Hall of Fame in May 2018. Ceresia is married to his wife Claudine. They have two children and live in Burlington, Ontario.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceresia, Mike Canadian racquetball players 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario Sportspeople from Sarnia Pan American Games medalists in racquetball Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Racquetball players at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games