Sebastian Franco

Sebastian Franco (born February 5, 1993) is a Colombian racquetball player.

Two years after beginning to play Franco competed at the IRF World Junior Championships in 2007, when he lost in the Round of 16 in Boys 14 and under to Mexican Daniel de la Rosa.

In Boys U14 Doubles that year, Franco and Juan Felipe Garzon lost in the quarterfinals to Bolivians Carlos Keller and Jorge Luis Michel, who went on to win the division.

At the 2008 IRF World Junior Championships, Franco again lost to De La Rosa in the Round of 16 in Boys U14.

He and Garzon again played doubles, but in Boys U16 Doubles division, where they lost to the USA's Bradley Kirch and Nick Montalbano in the quarterfinals.

Franco played in the US Open as a teenager in 2008 and 2009, and he was still a teen when he began to play the International Racquetball Tour in earnest in the 2010–11 season, when he played seven events.

But Franco didn't get past the Round of 32 in any of those tournaments.

Franco played three or four IRT events in each of the next four seasons, reaching the Round of 16 three times out of fourteen events.

In 2009, for the third year, Franco met Daniel de la Rosa in the playoffs at the IRF World Junior Championships.

This time in Boys U16 Singles, and once again De La Rosa was the winner in the Round of 16.

However, he got on the podium for the first time, as Franco and Garzon upset the Mexican team of Jaime Martell and Salvador Ortiz in the quarterfinals of Boys U16 Doubles.

They lost their semi-final match to Bolivians Carlos Keller and Jorge Luis Michel, but were bronze medalists.

Franco played Boys U16 Singles in 2010, when he lost to eventual champion Marco Rojas of the US in the quarterfinals.

In Boys U18 Doubles that year, Franco and Garzon lost to Canadians Pedro Castro and Jamie Slamko in the quarterfinals.

In 2011, Franco played Boys U18 Singles, and lost in the Round of 16 to Mexican Jaime Martell.

In Boys U18 Doubles, Franco and Garzon lost to Bolivians Carlos Keller and Jorge Luis Michel in the quarterfinals.

In his final year of juniors in 2012, Franco was a bronze medalist Boys U18 Singles, as he defeated Canadian Samuel Murray in the quarterfinals, but lost to the USA's Jose Diaz in the semi-finals.

He didn't play doubles that year.

That was his first and only podium result in singles at World Juniors.

Franco played both Men's Singles and Doubles at the 2012 Pan American Championships in Temuco, Chile, where he reached the Round of 16 in each event.

In singles, Franco lost to Daniel de la Rosa of Mexico, 15–8, 15–8, in the quarterfinals, and in doubles, he played doubles with Juan Carlos Torres, and they lost to the Dominican Republic's Luis Perez and Junior Rodriguez in the Round of 16.

In 2012, Franco played at the IRF World Championships for the first time.

He and Alejandro Herrera played Men's Doubles for Colombia, and they defeated Panama before losing to Canada in the Round of 16.

Franco played at the Men's Singles and Doubles at the 2013 Pan American Championships in Cali, Colombia.

He lost in the first round of singles to the eventual champion Polo Gutierrez of Mexico, 15–6, 15–4.

In doubles, Franco and Juan Herrera defeated Venezuelans Cesar Castillo and César Castro, 15–6, 7–15, 11–3, in the quarterfinals, but then lost to Mexicans Gutierrez and Javier Moreno, 15–6, 15–9, so they were bronze medalists.

Franco represented Colombia at the 2013 Bolivarian Games in Trujillo, Peru.

In Men's Singles, he lost in the quarterfinals to Jose Daniel Ugalde of Ecuador, 15–14, 15–12.

But he and Alejandro Herrera defeated Peruvians Alfredo Flores and Jose Schaefer in the quarterfinals of Men's Doubles, but lost in the semi-finals to Venezuelans Cesar Castillo and César Castro, 10–15, 15–2, 11–3, so Franco and Herrera earned bronze medals in Trujillo.

In the Men's Team event, Franco was part of the Colombian team who took home bronze medals after losing to Ecuador in the semi-finals.

Franco is a former International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Champion in Men's Doubles, winning the title in 2014 with Alejandro Herrera.

At the 2014 Pan American Racquetball Championships in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, Franco played Men's Singles and Doubles.

Franco lost to Ecuador's Fernando Rios, 12–15, 15–7, 11–8, in Round of 16, but in doubles, he and Alejandro Herrera eked out a win over Rios and Jose Daniel Alvarez, 14–15, 15–10, 11–7, but then lost to Argentina's Daniel Maggi and Shai Manzuri, 15–13, 7–15, 11–6, in the quarterfinals.

Thus, Franco had some international experience coming into the 2014 IRF World Championships in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, but he wasn't one of the top seeds in either singles or doubles.

After the preliminary round, Franco was seeded 9th in Men's Singles and 7th in Men's Doubles with Alejandro Herrera.

In singles, he lost to the USA's Rocky Carson, 15–8, 15–10, in the quarterfinals, and Carson went to win the championship.

But Franco and Herrera won gold in Men's Doubles at the 2014 World Championships.

He finished the IRT's Top 10 four straight seasons – from 2015–16 to 2018–19 – with a career high ranking of 6th in 2017–18.

Franco began playing racquetball as part of an after school program when he was 12.

In 2018, Franco became the first South American to win a tournament on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT), when he won the March Madness event in San Antonio.