Naperville sisters sweep junior racquetball nationals with gold medals

Sasha and Sameera Rai turned the 2026 USA Racquetball National Junior Championships into a two-sister sweep in Des Moines, combining for four gold medals and three other podium finishes. Sasha, 8, won the girls 8-and-under singles title, added silver in 10U girls singles and bronze in 10U girls doubles. Sameera, 11, known as Sammie, was even busier, winning gold in 10U girls singles, 10U mixed doubles and 10U girls doubles.

The championships ran June 24-28 at the Wellmark YMCA and drew more than 180 junior players from across the country. USA Racquetball bills the annual event as a national showcase that stretches from 6-and-under through 21-and-under, and it remains one of the clearest entry points into the sport’s U.S. development pipeline. That pipeline is not just about medals in one weekend, either. USA Racquetball’s junior team selection is tied to national-championship results, with singles finalists and doubles winners earning spots on Junior Team USA.

Sammie’s triple-gold performance carried another reward: she qualified for Junior Team USA for the fourth time. USA Racquetball listed 32 athletes from nine states on the 2025-26 junior team, a reminder of how narrow the path is from age-group success to a national roster spot. Jen Meyer, who has been an assistant junior-team coach for 23 years, was named coach director for the delegation headed to the IRF World Junior Championships later in 2026 as USA Racquetball continues to standardize the route from junior play to adult competition.

The Rai sisters’ rise has been building for years. Their father, Sathwik Rai, introduced both girls to racquetball and competed internationally for Team India as an amateur silver medalist. USA Racquetball’s record books already had both sisters on the list of age-group champions before Des Moines: Sasha was the 2024 girls 6-and-under multibounce singles champion and the 2024 girls 8-and-under singles champion, while Sameera won the 2024 girls 8-and-under singles title.

That history makes the Des Moines results look less like a one-week burst and more like the next step in a family system built for junior development. Sasha will be a third grader at Patterson Elementary School in August, and Sameera will enter sixth grade at Gregory Middle School, still young enough to keep climbing age divisions while Naperville now has two national junior champions carrying its name through the U.S. racquetball ladder.