Conor Keenan of Cappagh/Killyclogher, Tyrone, in action during the oneills.com World Wallball Championships Men's C round of 64 at UL Sport Arena. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
By Paul Fitzpatrick
The oneills.com World Wallball Championships are officially underway at the University of Limerick following this morning’s opening ceremony.
Uachtarán Jarlath Burns spoke passionately about how handball, a code he personally has enjoyed playing recreationally as a student and later a teacher, is “flourishing” at present. There are a total of almost 900 entries in the event, with leading players from Ireland, the USA, Canada, France, the Basque Country and Japan among other nations.
Action got underway this afternoon (Sunday) with the small ball divisions and some juvenile and C grade matches in the big ball section.
The rise of Wallball (formerly called One Wall) may have been rapid – leading to this first-ever standalone Wallball Worlds – there is a long history of international handball.
As far back as the 19th century, decades before handball came under the remit of the GAA in 1924, the sport had an international dimension.
Most countries have some form of game whereby a ball is propelled with the hand and, while Ireland takes fierce pride in the sport and sees itself as the leading light internationally (with some justification), there are very strong handball communities dotted all around the globe.
This has been recognised for a long time now and the late Tom O’Connor from Bray was one of the pioneers of One Wall handball, which took fledgling steps in Ireland in the mid-1990s and grew substantially in the last 15 years.
The GAA, as the parent body, and are investing strongly and lending their resources towards the development of handball as an international code across a large number of countries. In the past, the 40x20 game was at the forefront given its popularity in the USA and Canada in particular but in more recent times, One Wall – rebranded some years ago as Wallball – has become the fastest-growing code internationally.
The international dimension will be seen in vivid technicolour this week with the arrival in Limerick of leading players from a dozen countries.
The bumper entry indicates that this event has really captured the imagination of the handball community around the world – but who will earn the right to call themselves the best players on the planet in the blue riband Open grades?
In the Singles, Ireland are represented by Conor McElduff and Catriona Casey while in the Doubles, the Team Ireland reps are Martina McMahon/Aoife McCarthy and Cormac Finn/Mikey Kelly.
That sextet are among the leading lights in the game and will be fancied to compete very strongly.
The Men’s Open big ball field is certainly the strongest ever assembled in Ireland and must surely be up there with anything we have seen, anywhere.
Of the Americans Tywan Cook, Timothy 'Timbo' Gonzalez and Nazir Marston are among the higher seeds but all are superb players and any one of Vlad Klym, Julio Carlos, Mohamad Mansi, Johnson Gonzalez and Arthur Sayed could be in the mix.
Englishmen Dan Grant and Christian Blackaby have competed very strongly on the European Tour where their top player, lefty Luke Thomson, is the number one-ranked player who made the last four of New York’s prestigious King of the Courts.
Mikel Beldarrain Emaldi and Lur Xiarrusta Intxaurtza represent the Basque Country and have shown they have the ability to take down anyone.
Of the Irish, McElduff is the dominant player but there is no shortage of firepower in the experienced Paul Donnelly (recent All-Ireland semi-finalist), Armagh’s rising star Fíachra Ó Dúill (who also goes in the 19&U) and a squadron of other brilliant young players including Cormac Finn, Mark Doyle, Shane Dunne, Paul Donnelly, Fiachra Ó Dúill, Joe Devereux and Cahir Munroe.
Among the attractive matches tomorrow in the Men’s Open are Dan Grant (UK) v Mohamad Mansi (Palestine), Joe Devereux (Wexford) v Christian Blackaby (UK) and Mikel Beldarrain (Basque Country) against Sligo’s Cormac Finn.
The Ladies Open in the big ball division has attracted a stellar field of 16, headed by Irish champion Casey and also including leading home-grown pretenders McMahon, McCarthy and former national champs Fioan Tully and Aoife McCarthy as well as Cailíosa Ní Dhúill, Ciara Mahon, Cuileann Bourke, Armagh footballer Megan McCann, Aisling Mullin and Clare Conway.
The New York stars will fancy their chances; the Mecca of wallball is represented by Melissa Sky, Sully Ruiz, Serena Lee and Nancy Dong while also in the mix representing Israel is Anastasia Spiridonov.
The doubles will be fiercely contested, as will the small ball grades, the overage and juvenile divisions and the B and C competitions.
All in all, a feast of handball is in store. The Open matches on the exhibition courts will be streamed live on the Spórt TG4 YouTube page.