Irish handballers seek LA stardom

Agus

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2008/1014/hanball.html

Irish handballers seek LA stardom


Tuesday, 14 October 2008 13:37
Ireland's top handballers will jet off to the courts of Los Angeles this weekend to take part in the Simple Green US Open of Handball.
The tournament, run by the American World Pro Handball organization, has been billed as one of the biggest US handball events in recent years.
The event runs for four days from the 23 October, with the finals taking place on Sunday 26 October.

Breffni football star, Paul Brady is seeded number one in the tournament but must overcome some of America's finest handballers if he is to walk away as champion.
Brady has won the last two finals, but last year's meeting with Seattle's Sean Lenning has been described as one of the most exciting games of handball ever seen.
Brady was pushed to a tiebreaker win but was down 7-4 and 9-7 during the decider. Having won 11-10, the current world champion knows what to expect in LA next week.
'It's great to play in these events with the best handballers in the world, and I suppose we all know each other pretty well as this stage so it's all about who has prepared the best and who peaks during the tournament,' said Brady.
Cork's Tony Healy will also be in action, and this year's Irish and Canadian Nationals winner will be hoping to get that much sought after win over Brady. Healy and Brady fought out an 11-10 tiebreaker finish at the US Nationals in June, and with the Ballydesmond star ranked number fourth in the competition, another semi-final meeting with Brady could be on the cards.
In the Men's Open Doubles competition, Mayo's Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann will provide a tough opposition for any pairing. Both Ballaghaderreen players will be involved in this weekend's Mayo County Senior Football Final and will fly out to LA on Monday morning, ahead of the massive handball event.

djScarey

Handball is the only Gaelic game where players from other countries can provide serious competition to the best native Irish players.

Agus

Setanta and TG4 will be showing this


"The Simple Green US Open of Handball 2007 will be shown on Setanta Sports tomorrow, Thursday, October 16 at 22:30 with further showings on Friday, October 17 at 15:30 & Sunday, October 19 at 19:30.

The tournament, which took place in Fountain Valley, California last October saw some of the top players in the world fight it out on the courts of Los Cabelleros. Paul Brady and Tony Healy both feature in the top quality programme, with action from a thrilling final where Brady met Seattle's Sean Lenning.

The production comes courtesy of World Pro Handball (WPH) and will also be carried on TG4 this coming week. Details will be made available shortly. Tune in to see the top action, which will also take place live in Fountain Valley next week when handball champions converge to the Los Cabelleros Sports Village for handball's biggest crown—The Simple Green US Open of Handball!

#1 World Ranked, Paul Brady goes for the three-peat. meanwhile, Dave Chapman returns from retirement in a quest to take the cash. Will it be redemption time for Ireland's Tony Healy? Can Emmett Peixoto break into the finals? After the devastating 11-10 tiebreaker loss last year, Sean Lenning will come out firing! Some of the other Irish on display include Joe McCann, Dessie Keegan and Charly Shanks.

Watch all of the action LIVE on the WPH webcaster. What is webcasting? From the luxury of your home or office, you can tune in to the live handball events, as they unfold from California, over your PC or Mac. You just need a fast Internet connection and webcasting pass with the WPH. Buy your pass on-line at www.wphpass.com or contact the WPH for additional details: weplayhandball@cs.com. There will be live play-by-play, multiple camera angles, replays, interviews, and pro player commentary all week long."

megadodge

When did Setanta get involved ?

When is the actual coverage going to be shown on either TG4 or Setanta ?

Agus

No idea when Setanta got involved.

As for the coverage, does it not say fairlly clearly what the Setanta times are in the bit I quoted in my last post, and that TG4 will have it at an unconfirmed point next week?

megadodge

As for the coverage, does it not say fairlly clearly what the Setanta times are in the bit I quoted in my last post

It does indeed. My apologies.

Seemed to forget that as I read the rest of the post.

Agus

No worries mate! :D