Photo credit: World Games Association
CHENGDU, CHINA (August 18, 2025) Team Canada’s racquetball athletes, Coby Iwaasa (Lethbridge, Alberta) and Frédérique Lambert (Montréal, Québec), finished their World Games campaign on the podium, capturing bronze in mixed doubles at the Chengdu 2025 World Games.
In the bronze medal match, Iwaasa and Lambert defeated Japan’s Harumi Kajino and Michimune Kono in four games with scores of 11–3, 11–7, 7–11, 11–4. This marks only the fourth World Games medal in Canadian racquetball history – and the very first in the newly added mixed doubles event.
The Canadians impressed throughout the tournament, highlighted by a quarterfinal victory over Guatemala to advance to the semifinals. In a dramatic five-game semifinal against Team USA, Iwaasa and Lambert pushed the eventual gold medalists to the limit before falling just short with scores of 11–9, 5–11, 11–8, 9–11, 9–11. Both athletes also competed in the singles events, where they reached the quarterfinal stage.
With their bronze medal finish, Team Canada closes a successful chapter in Chengdu and now turns its focus to the upcoming season. The 2025–26 racquetball season begins in September with three domestic tournaments and two major international events — the World Championships and the Pan Am Championships – on the schedule for the year.
All recorded matches can be viewed on World Games Live both online and through the event’s official app.
More information about Lambert and Iwaasa and their accomplishments can be found on their athlete biographies: https://racquetballcanada.ca/team/
Draws and results can be found on the World Games website but are also available on R2 Sports.
