2005 HES Pro Doubles Handball Championships

USHA 1-Wall Pro Doubles (In Conjunction with The H.E.S. Invitational Doubles) - Sunday March 13th, 2005 - Brooklyn, NY

"Little Paulie" Plays Big!

The Fans seemed a little surprised that Cesar Sala had chosen Paulie Yagual as his partner. I guess many did not know that Paulie can hold his own at the pro level. Paulie Yagual aka "Little Paulie" breezed right through the "B" singles competition at the 2004 Nationals last year. He also captured the 2004 "Big Blue Citywide Open Doubles title with partner Jamie Rivera. HandballCity.com was able to interview Cesar Sala before the tournament about his new partner. Cesar said he either wanted to play with Robert Sostre or "Little Paulie", with Sostre being out of town Cesar scrambled to ask Paulie. In fact Cesar traveled all the way to the Bronx's Zerega Indoor Handball courts where Paulie was playing great all day. Cesar said he felt very comfortable playing with the experienced lefty...A couple of hours later they were crowned the 2005 HES Pro Doubles Champions. written by J.Russo

Young Yagual helps Sala win final

Written by Artie Fuchs & Albert Apuzzi

Watch Sala's kill in Men's Doubles Action! (to download, click here)

Brooklyn, N.Y. - The Annual Invitational Doubles Tournament was held at the H.E.S., the indoor facilities for the USHA One-Wall Nationals. The finals matched the reigning champs Mike Grabowski/Larry Drago against Rene Caraballo/Bob Caime. After several early lead changes, Mike and Larry took a commanding 14-8 advantage. Rene and Bob responded with a 12-1 run to take the lead 20-15. Although Mike and Larry made a valiant comeback, Rene's potent serve and off-the-wall game complimented by Bob's steadiness were too much as they prevailed 25-22.

In the Men's Open Doubles, youth was once again the theme of the day as the younger players demonstrated they can �Play with the Pros.� The Women's Open Doubles was, as always, very competitive. A back injury helped put an end to Barbara and Dori�s 15-5 lead over Brenda and Bernice who eventually pulled out a 25-16 victory. Jackson and Ten made a nice comeback to earn a respectable 18 points against �the kids� Acevedo and McCourt. Lori and Theresa nearly came up one point short of repeating in their match against Pares and Torres.

In the quarters of men's open doubles Sanchez and Schneider came close to upsetting the YMCA champions Apuzzi and Castro. Sala and Yagual beat LoPierre and Wilkerson, while Jones and Pelligrini continued their hot streak by defeating Kaplan and Roberts 25-24. Rojas and Wright breezed by Rebaza and Sampson 25-14. Both semifinals were very interesting. Albert and PeeWee couldn't hold on to their 18-10 and fell 25-20 to Cesar and "little" 21-year-old, Paulie. On the other side of the draw, Dave and Rookie earned a 25-18 victory over Milton and Pete. The finals match-up of Rojas/Wright against Sala/Yagual was packed with excitement. Rojas and Wright made a late comeback but came up short, falling 25-21.

The first place team split $400 and the second place team received $300.

Thanks to Moshit Paskal (Activity Director) and the H.E.S. for the use of their facility.

Men's Pro Doubles

Women's Pro Doubles

Invitational Doubles