Irish stars still in hunt for world title

IRELAND’S chances of keeping the men’s world handball singles title will become clearer in Canada tonight as the quarter-finals get under way in Edmonton.

The Irish occupy the top three seedings in the men’s draw, with defending champion Paul Brady of Cavan leading the way, followed by All-Ireland champion Tony Healy of Cork and Dubliner Eoin Kennedy, while Charlie Shanks of Armagh and Brady’s Kingscourt club-mate Michael Finnegan are ranked fifth and eighth respectively.

All five Irishmen sailed through their opening contests on Tuesday, with Brady defeating American Jon Hohol 21-10, 21-1, to set up a last-eight meeting with doubles partner Finnegan, who overcame Nelson Quintero of the US 21-10, 21-7.

Healy crushed American Jeff Kastner 21-4, 21-3, and the Irish champion from Ballydesmond next takes on rising Californian star Ricardo Diaz in the quarters.

Kennedy faces a last-eight date with Canadian champion Danny Bell, while Shanks faces fourth-seeded American Emmett Peixoto.

If the draw remains true to the seedings, Healy would progress to a semi-final meeting with doubles partner Kennedy.

“Myself and Eoin have a bye into Thursday’s doubles quarter-finals, but we could also be playing against each other in the singles’ semis,” Healy said. “But it’s one game at a time and I’ve Diaz to beat first.”

With 79 different draws in progress at six different venues in the Alberta state capital, there is plenty of Irish representation. Healy estimated that of the 900 entrants, 500 were from Ireland, although many will have entered both singles and doubles events.

Put more simply, “there’s loads of Irish,” Healy said.

The women’s singles came to a conclusion last night with Belfast’s Fiona Shannon defending her title in the final against top seed Anna Christoff.

Shannon, who teams up with her sister Sibeal McKenna in the doubles, scored a semi-final win over fourth seed Lisa Fraser-Gilmore of Canada, thanks to an 11-5 tiebreak victory.

Former world champion Fraser-Gilmore had knocked Kerry’s Maria Daly out in the quarter-finals, the Ballymacelligott handballer getting on the wrong end of a 21-15, 21-3 scoreline.