Handball’s world number one, Cavan’s Paul Brady, will continue the defence of his US Nationals title in Kansas Wednesday when he takes on Pittsburgh’s David Fink in the quarter-final.
Brady flew to the US last week to prepare for the prestigious event and missed his side’s Ulster Senior Football Championship showdown against the Orchard County.
The Mullahoran clubman admits that making the decision to miss this game was one of the toughest he has made in his sporting career.
‘When I accepted the invitation to return the Cavan panel, I told the management team that I wouldn’t be available for a quarter-final because I had already made arrangements for my US Nationals preparations,’ said the 29-year-old.
‘I had to choose one or the other and retaining the US Nationals was one of my main aims when I set down my goals for the year,’ he said.
His last win on US soil was one of the closest victories of his career, when he overcame Seattle’s Sean Lenning in an 11-10 tie-breaker to take the US Open of Handball in LA.
Lenning will be one of the main obstacles Brady must overcome if he is to collect his fourth consecutive US Nationals title.
The return of former number one, David Chapman, will also add to the exciting plot.
Chapman and Brady last met in the Ultimate Showdown in 2004, when Brady defeated the handball legend for the first time to collect $50,000, the biggest cash prize in handball history.
Cork’s Tony Healy, who is seeded number two in the event, will take on Chapman today and this quarter-final game has been billed as one of the most exciting of the tournament.
Eight-time champion, Chapman opened with a win over Luis Cordova in his return to the US Nationals but will find Healy a much more difficult and clinical opponent.
Healy’s athletic style is fantastic to watch, and having already collected the Irish and Canadian Nationals titles, the Ballydesmond handballer should overcome the former world number one.
The GAA’s amateur status prevents Ireland’s top handballers from pocketing the money directly and all winnings go to the Irish Handball Council, and can then be claimed back in legitimate expenses from the players.
