Canadian Arran Chambers Repeats Gold in El Salvador, Now with Jake MacNeil

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, November 10, 2024.- Canadian Arran Chambers repeated his gold medal performance on the NORCECA Tour here in El Salvador, this time teaming up with Jake MacNeil to defeat the U.S. duo of Diego Perez and Ryan Ierna 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) at the eighth stop of the 2024 season, held from November 8 to 10 at the Flor Blanca Beach Sports Stadium.

Arran Chambers claimed his second NORCECA Tour gold medal, his first was also here in El Salvador last year alongside Liam Kopp. Just a week ago, Chambers and MacNeil took the silver medal in Bonaire.

Arran said, “El Salvador is my house”. He added “This is a special place for me, the tournament was organized beautifully, and it’s been such a pleasure to be here once again”. About the gold medal match he commented “We came out really hard, we trusted each other, and we just didn’t let our foot off the gas, we prepared really hard for this, played really focused and it showed”.

Jake MacNeil praised Arran after winning the gold medal “Arran is an absolute monster at the net and made it really challenging for them up there”. He was really glad for Arran “it’s back-to-back champ for him and I luckily picked up the championship with him, he carried me all the way to the end”.

On their way to their second consecutive NORCECA Tour final, Jake MacNeil and Arran Chambers defeated fellow Canadians Luke De Greeff and Martin Licht in straight sets, 21-10, 21-18, in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Diego Pérez and Ryan Ierna of the United States fought hard to beat Nicaragua’s Rubén Mora and Dany López 2-0 (21-19, 28-26) in a thrilling semifinal. Pérez and Ierna had previously won bronze this year in Puerto Cortés.

The bronze medal went to Canada’s Luke De Greeff and Martin Licht, who made a comeback to win 2-1 (16-21, 22-20, 15-12) over Nicaragua’s Rubén Mora and Dany López. This was De Greeff and Licht's second medal on the Tour, having also won bronze last week in Bonaire.

In fifth place, the U.S. Team Dew/Adamsen defeated El Salvador’s Guardado/Guardado 2-0 (21-12, 21-15). D. Dyner/Araya of Costa Rica finished in seventh place after defeating R. Vargas/Mejia of El Salvador 2-0 (21-18, 21-12).

Webb/Blake of Jamaica won a three-set match for ninth place, beating Lomeli/Van Siclen of the U.S. Virgin Islands 2-1 (11-21, 21-18, 15-12). For eleventh place, Gutierrez/López of Nicaragua defeated Theodore/Enile of Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 (21-12, 23-25, 15-10).

El Salvador’s Flores/Guatemala defeated Guatemala’s Blanco/Izaguirre 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) for thirteenth and fourteenth positions. Reyes/Serrano of Honduras finished in fifteenth place, winning 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) over Mingo/Frederick of Dominica.

Final Standings: 1. MacNeil/Chambers (CAN); 2. Perez/Ierna (USA); 3. De Greeff/Licht (CAN); 4. Mora/Lopez (NCA); 5. Dew/Adamsen (USA); 6. Guardado/Guardado (ESA); 7. D. Dyner/Araya (CRC); 8. R Vargas/Mejia (ESA); 9. Webb/Blake (JAM); 10. Lomeli/Van Siclen (ISV); 11. Gutierrez/Lopez (NCA); 12. Theodore/Enile (TTO); 13. Flores/Guatemala (ESA); 14. Blanco/Izaguirre (GUA); 15. Reyes/Serrano (HON); 16. Mingo/Frederick (DMA).

Results Day 3 Men:

CLASSIFICATION MATCHES: POS 5/8: Guardado/Guardado (ESA) d R Vargas/Mejia (ESA) 2-1 (22-20, 16-21, 17-15); Dew/Adamsen (USA) d D. Dyner/Araya (CRC) 2-1 (18-21, 21-11, 15-19);  

SEMIFINALS: MacNeil/Chambers (CAN) d De Greeff/Licht (CAN) 2-0 (21-10, 21-18); Perez/Ierna (USA) d Mora/López (NCA)  

POSITION MATCHES: POS 5/6 Dew/Adamsen (USA) d Guardado/Guardado (ESA) 2-0 (21-12, 21-15); POS 7/8 D. Dyner/Araya (CRC) d R Vargas/Mejia (ESA) 2-‘ (21-18, 21-12); POS 9/10 Webb/Blake (JAM) d Lomeli/Van Siclen (ISV) 2-1 (11-21, 21-18, 15-12); POS 11/12 Gutierrez/Lopez (NCA) d Theodore/Enile (TTO) 2-1 (21-12, 23-25, 15-10); POS 13/14 Flores/Guatemala (ESA) d Blanco/Izaguirre (GUA) 2-0 (21-19, 21-13); POS 15/16 Reyes/Serrano (HON) d Mingo/Frederick (DMA) 2-0 (21-14, 21-18)

BRONZE MEDAL: De Greeff/Licht (CAN) d Mora/Lopez (NCA) 2-1 (16-21, 22-20, 15-12)

GOLD MEDAL: MacNeil/Chambers (CAN)d Perez/Ierna (USA) 2-0 (21-13, 21-13)