Irish racquetball victories

THE Irish men’s and ladies’ teams were crowned European Racquetball champions in Zootemeer, Holland yesterday.

Following their victories over the German and English teams earlier in the week, the men’s team secured the title by beating Belgium 3-0 and following with a 2-1 victory over Holland. The team was: J. Gannon (Arklow), A. Butler (Clones), S. O’Loan (Belfast), L. Hughes (Fermoy) and T. Hickey (Touraneena-Waterford).

The ladies’ team beat Germany 2-1 in the final. With the game balanced at 1-1, national U-18 champion Niamh Coffey (Touraneena) and U-21 champion Elma Gibney (Moyla-Meath) secured the title with victory in the final doubles in straight games. The team was: J. Kennedy (Dolla-Tipperary), S. Neary (Arklow), H. Shanahan (Templederry-Tipperary), N. Coffey (Waterford), and E. Gibney (Meath).

The Irish duo of Susan Neary and Elma Gibney also took the gold in the ladies’ doubles.

Today sees some of the country’s top juniors battle it out for the European U-18 singles title.

One of the hot favourites is six-times national underage champion Triston Hickey from Touraneena club in West Waterford. He plays Dominik Bachmaeir (Germany) in the opening round, and is joined in the draw by Michael Haverty and Kevin McNamara, both from Castlebar club.