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Squash Player Brings Home Medals from Pan American ChampionshipsMechanical issues with their aircraft and the fact they had to compete 3,000 metres above sealevel did little to inhibit Parkdale's Tara Mullins and the rest of the Canadian women's team atthe Pan American squash championships from Oct. 17 to 24.Mullins, 32, led the Canadian women's team at the Ambato, Equador event with a silver medalin singles play, followed by another silver medal in the team event.The new hardware brings her international medal count total to three.The reduction in air pressure at 10,000 feet above sea level made for bouncier balls and shorterbreaths out on the court, which added a different dynamic for many of the attendees."It's a big difference playing at a higher elevation, you can definitely feel it. You get windedquicker," said the McGill University commerce graduate who relocated to Toronto a decade agoto pursue a pro squash career. "The balls bounce a lot higher and it's harder to hit your target,in terms of finding your length on the court, but everybody's in the same boat so you kind ofjust have to accept it."Well, almost everybody was in the same boat. Mexico, winners in the team and individualevent, trains regularly in high altitude, which essentially left much of the rest of the field at aslight disadvantage.Mullins, the director of squash at six Toronto area Good Life Fitness locations, takes somesolace in giving up the gold medal to the tournament's top seed, Mexico's Samantha Teran."She's a tough opponent, she keeps you under a lot of pressure," she said."I came off exhausted and said 'Well, you know what, she was the better player that day.'"The Canadian squad, which also includes Montreal's Alexandra Normand and Ottawa'sSamantha Cornett - whom Mullins defeated in pool play earlier in the tournament - won itssemifinal matchup against Brazil, going three straight sets before running into Mexico again inthe final. Canada lost in the final 2-1.The recent showing doesn't qualify Mullins or the Canadian team for anything, nor does itimprove on any international rankings, but it does increase the amount of funding the team willget in the future.