Cavan’s Paul Brady made handball history in Minneapolis, Minnesota two weeks ago when he landed his third successive US Nationals Open singles title. The Mullahoran clubman had a comfortable straight games win over Seattle’s Sean Lenning.
Brady – the only Irishman ever to win this event – came through a strong field, which included four of the top Irish players, without dropping a game. In the first round he defeated the veteran Dan Armijo of New Mexico 21-10, 21-10 and followed this with a convincing 21-6, 21-1 win over San Joe’s up and coming Ricardo Diaz. Many onlookers felt that Brady’s toughest test of the tournament would come against US number one Naty Alvarado Jr in the semi finals. The Californian had forced Brady to a tense tiebreaker at the US Open in Los Angeles last October, but there was to be no repeat here as a constant barrage of power serves and relentless backwall killshots saw Brady cruise to a 21-12, 21-16 victory.
On the other side of the draw, a much improved Lenning shocked Cork’s Tony Healy to qualify for his first national final, but Cavan defender Brady was in no mood to grant the 22 year old a fairytale ending. Tearing into the American from the off, Brady had too much class and pulled away for a superb 21-18, 21-12 win. ”I’m relieved to have kept my title for another year,” said Brady. I felt much more relaxed this season than in other years, but I feel that I need a break for a while,” said the 27 year old. “I wasn’t playing my best, which is great in one sense because I still won but I don’t want to be living on the edge like that. I want to make sure that I am fresher and hungrier next year.”
Brady will be taking a break from some of his handball commitments for the foreseeable future to concentrate on football. “I will only be playing one tournament in the next eight months, and that’s not until October so that should keep me from going stale. I will play a couple of “fun tournaments” before then, but it will be the end of the summer before I get back into serious training again. For now, I’m just delighted to have the most prestigious title on offer for another year.”
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