A record breaking 1000+ handballers from nine countries come together in Ireland this weekend n what promises to be a fantastic World Championships…

With competitions ranging from juveniles through seniors to veteran events, more than 1500 matches will be played - making this the biggest participative international sporting event outside the Special Olympics in Ireland this year.

The games will be hosted in three areas: the Dublin region (extending to Rush, Leixlip and Ballymore Eustace), the Kilkenny/Carlow/Laois region and the new state-of-the-art four-court venue in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan.

The World Championships were first held in 1964 and now take place at three-year intervals. Initially the event was held on an invitational basis and was limited to senior players, but it has now expanded to include many grades - ranging from the very young to the not so young! The Championships provide a marvelous mix of age and experience and show that handball really is a ‘game for life’. More than three hundred players will come from the USA, Canada, Japan, England, Wales, Belgium, Spain and Australia, making the event truly international in character.

First round games in the various grades, including one-wall events, will begin over the weekend of 17th October.

Men’s and Women’s Open Championships at Croke Park

The premier Open championships will decide the World Handball Singles and Doubles champions for the next three years.

The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday the 22nd to the 25th October at Croke Park Handball Centre and they will display the sport at its very best. Tickets may be purchased at the door and the smart move is to arrive early!

While Ireland has been very successful over the last twenty years or so in particular international underage grades - Kilkenny’s legendary ‘Duxie’ Walsh leading the way - Irish players have had less success at open and masters levels. Famous Irish handballers such as Joey Maher (Louth, representing Canada) and Pat Kirby (Clare, representing the USA) have taken the Open Singles title, however, these don’t count as Irish victories. Dick Lyng and Seamus Buggy of Wexford won the 60 x 30 World Open Doubles in 1970, but since the championships format settled on the international sized 40x20 courts, success at the top level has eluded Irish players both male and female. American, Canadian and Mexican players have totally dominated the open events in recent decades.

An intriguing question for the 2003 championships will be whether the Irish senior players can make the breakthrough at the very top level and the signs are quite good. With senior players of the calibre of Paul Brady (Cavan), Eoin Kennedy (Dublin), Tony Healy (Cork), Walter O’Connor and Tom Sheridan (Meath) the chances are excellent that one or more of these exceptional players will put Ireland at the very top of the international handball ladder. The McKenna sisters from Belfast and Kildare’s Fiona Healy and Anna Wrynn may break the US/Canadian stranglehold in the women's open events as well.

Current US champion John Bike will be on view in the Men’s Open Singles. A frequent visitor to Ireland over the years, Bike is tremendously strong and will be tough to beat. Tony Healy provided the opposition for Bike in the hard fought final of the US Nationals in June, marking the first time ever that an Irish player reached the final of the premier US event. To parallel Healy’s achievement Fiona Shannon (nee McKenna) reached the final of the women's singles proving that she is also well capable of competing at the highest level.

Cavan senior footballer Paul Brady has prepared particularly well for the upcoming World championships. Paul’s rapid rise to No. 2 in the USA rankings came on the heels of his winning a US ranking tournament – the first ever Irishman to do so. Other Irish players have also excelled on the US tour, with Tony Healy reaching the No. 5 slot in the rankings. Current Irish Open Champion, Dublin’s Eoin Kennedy, won a qualifier event at Boston on his first visit to the Pro scene and was joined by Walter O’Connor (Meath) and Dessie Keegan (Mayo) when they competed together in the ranking event in San Francisco later in the year. With prestigious wins in US open events by our young senior players, the potential for Irish success in the World Open singles has never been as good. The home venue may give them the advantage they will need to defeat the international opposition.

The Irish senior squads, both male and female, are undergoing rigorous training regimes aimed at preparing them for the huge task ahead. In order to win at the highest levels the Irish players must be supremely fit as well as highly skilled and mentally tough. These demands are not only for the senior players, as some of the veteran events have over fifty entrants and the winners will have to play up to six matches over a three to four day period!

In the underage events, players such as Galway’s Noel McHugh, Tipperary’s Ger Coonan, Westmeath’s Robert McCarthy, Meath’s Brian Carroll, Carlow’s Gerry Kane, Roscommon’s Damian Martin and Kilkenny’s Richard Hogan are expected to excel and are all in with a very good chance at winning their various events. Kerry’s Maria Daly, Antrim’s Aisling Reilly and Nicola Kelly from Roscommon will similarly provide keen opposition in the girls’ competitions.

The stage is set for a fantastic display of the skill and passion that define international handball and we hope the Irish sporting public will turn out to support this uniquely Irish game and the dedicated men and women who play it so well.

Related Topic:
"Fire in the Belly..." -"One Wall" World Handball Championships
Handball Stars in Action - Pictures
World Handball Championships: "Four Wall" Events

More information about the World Handball Championships can be found on Comhairle Liathróid Láimhe na hÉireann’s website