The Return of Kane Waselenchuk

Kane Waselenchuk’s two year absence from the pro racquetball tour has seen two new IRT year-end champions crowned, and one new victor to the sport’s premiere event, the US OPEN.  As of June 2008, Kane Waselenchuk is again eligible to compete in events sanctioned by the International Racquetball Federation (IRF), and more importantly, USA Racquetball (as USAR sanctions all IRT events).  Many anticipate Kane will immediately return to the top spot in the sport, while others speculate that he’ll need some play time to get his game back on par with “big boys”.

Kane has been sporadically participating in regional exhibition events in Texas, but gets the opportunity to “level” his skills in just two days during a non-sanctioned event against Jason Mannino.  His next stop will be in Arlington, TX where he will complete against all the top ranked IRT pros in a Tier 2 … .  Hmm, just as I am writing this, it looks like the Arlington event has been “downgraded” to a one-day shootout as part of the “Triple Crown” in Texas.  Damn!  I guess if you want to see Kane play prior to his official comeback during the 2008-2009 season, you’ve got to go the “Battle of the Champions” versus Jason Maninno.

I think many people were really looking forward to see how Kane’s game has changed after being gone for two years, and now we’ll have to wait for a few more months to see how he holds up for a full-fledged event.  This is going to be a long off-season!

The other unknown is Kane’s new equipment for the up-coming year.  He has started a relationship with Pro Kennex for his own racquet, the Krowning Moment.  Little is known about where the racquets will be sold, specs, etc.

2 comments May 13th, 2008 by Geoff Thomsen