Coby Iwaasa

Coby Iwaasa (born June 19, 1996) is a Canadian racquetball player.

He is the current Canadian Champion in Men's Doubles, winning the title with Kurtis Cullen in 2023.

Iwaasa won the 2022 Pan American Championships in Men's Doubles with Samuel Murray, and was a bronze medallist at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

Iwaasa was a prodigious player as a junior, winning several Canadian Junior National Championships (Junior Nationals), including four Boy's U18 titles, which is a record.

In Boys' Singles, he won U10 in 2007, Boy's U12 in 2009, and Boy's U14 in 2011.

At the International Racquetball Federation World Junior Championships, Iwaasa finished 3rd in U14 in 2010 and 2011, 1st in U16 in 2012, and 3rd in 2013 in U16 and 3rd in U18 in 2014.

He also played doubles at World Juniors finishing 3rd in U14 with Sami Harb in 2010, and 3rd in U14 with Matthew Swaine in 2011, 2nd in U16 with Harb in 2012, and 3rd in U16 with Nicolas Bousquet in 2013.

He was seeded 7th, but he defeated 10th seed Sebastian Franco in the Round of 16, 15–11, 15–13, 2nd seed Polo Gutierrez in the quarterfinals, 15–6, 15–10, 3rd seed David Horn in the semi-finals, 10–15, 15–4, 11–5, and 1st seed Alejandro Cardona in the final, 9–15, 15–9, 11–8.

He reached the quarterfinals in the other four WRT events that year.

In 2012 and 2013, Iwaasa won both Boy's U16 and Boy's U18 at Junior Nationals.

Iwaasa played in the Racquetball Canada National Team Selection Event in February 2012 in Regina, where he lost in the Round of 16 to Francis Guillemette, 16–14, 15–8.

Iwaasa played at the Canadian National Championships (Nationals) for the first time in 2012 in Brossard, Québec, where he lost in the Round of 16 to Eric Desrochers, 15–7, 16–14.

Iwaasa played Men's Doubles with Kurtis Cullen that year, and they lost in the quarterfinals to Mike Green and Kris Odegard, 15–2, 15–3.

Iwaasa played in the 1st Racquetball Canada National Team Selection Event of the 2012–13 season in November 2012 in Kelowna, British Columbia, where he lost in the quarterfinals to Tim Landeryou, 7–15, 16–14, 11–4.

In the 2nd Racquetball Canada National Team Selection Event that season in February 2013 in Brossard, Québec, where he defeated Samuel Murray in the quarterfinals, 15–13, 16–14, but lost to Mike Green in the semi-finals, 15–13, 15–2.

Iwaasa played Men's Doubles with veteran Mike Green at the 2013 Canadian Championships in Langley, British Columbia, and they won the title, defeating Lee Connell and Francis Guillemette in the final, 15–5, 15–6.

In the semi-finals, the defeated the brother team of Samuel Murray and Tommy Murray, 15–3, 15–6.

That year in Men's Singles, Iwaasa lost to his partner Green, 15–3, 13–15, 11–2, in the semi-finals.

In November 2013, Iwaasa finished 3rd at the 1st National Team Selection Event of the 2013–14 season in Winnipeg, where he reached the semi-finals by defeating Nathaniel Husulak in the quarterfinals, 15–6, 15–7, but lost to Mike Green, 15–6, 15–9.

He also won Boy's U18 in his last two years of eligibility: 2014 and 2015.

In those last two years he also won Boy's U18 Doubles: with Matthew Swaine in 2014 and with Nicolas Bousquet in 2015.

In the 2nd National Team Selection Event that season, he again played Green in the semis, and lost but in three games, 15–12, 8–15, 11–1, in Brossard, Québec in January 2014.

The 2014 Canadian National Championships were also in Brossard, and Iwaasa played doubles with Kurtis Cullen.

That summer Iwaasa played for Canada for the first time by participating in the 2014 Pan American Sports Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he defeated team-mate Samuel Murray, 15–9, 10–15, 11–3, in the Round of 16, but lost to David Horn of the US in the quarterfinals, 8–15, 15–14, 11–6.

Iwaasa competed on the World Racquetball Tour (WRT) in 2014, and won the Fall Brawl event in Lombard, Illinois.

In November 2014, Iwaasa defeated Samuel Murray, in the quarterfinals, 15–9, 15–10, of the 1st National Team Selection Event of the 2014–15 season in Kitchener, Ontario.

He then lost to Mike Green, 15–6, 15–6, in the semi-finals.

Iwaasa played seven tournaments in the 2014–15 International Racquetball Tour season, but only made it to the quarterfinals in the second last event of the season: the 2015 ProKennex Tournament of Champions in Portland, Oregon, where he defeated Jose Rojas, 11–5, 11–6, 12–10, in the Round of 16, and then lost to Daniel de la Rosa in the quarterfinals, 6–11, 11–4, 11–5, 11–6.

Previously that season, he'd played three tie-breakers in the Round of 16, losing two of them to De La Rosa and one to Jansen Allen.

Iwaasa beat Pedro Castro in the 3rd place match, 15–8, 15–10.

But he won the 3rd place match against Nathaniel Husulak, 15–11, 15–7.

In the 3rd place match, he defeated Samuel Murray, 15–10, 15–8.

In the 3rd place match, Tim Landeryou defeated Iwaasa, 15–7, 14–16, 11–6.

They were seeded 4th, but were upset in the quarterfinals by veterans Francis Guillemette and Corey Osborne, 15–12, 15–11.

Iwaasa was 3rd in Men's Singles for the second time, as he lost to eventual champion Vincent Gagnon, 15–10, 15–17, 11–6, in the semi-finals, but won the 3rd place match versus Samuel Murray, 13–15, 15–6, 11–8.

Iwaasa finished 3rd by defeating Tim Landeryou, 15–11, 15–9.

He won the 2nd Selection Event that season in Brossard, Québec, where he beat Pedro Castro in the final, 15–9, 6–15, 11–8.

In the semi-finals, Iwaasa beat Landeryou, 12–15, 15–4, 11–7.

Iwaasa built on the success he had at the 2nd Selection Event to win both Men's Singles and Men's Doubles at the 2015 Nationals in Burnaby, British Columbia.

In Men's Singles, Iwaasa defeated Samuel Murray in the final, 15–10, 12–15, 11–7, to win his 1st Canadian Championship in Men's Singles.