Following an awesome display of power, Cavan’s Paul Brady confirmed his number one status on the world handball stage on Friday in Fountain Valley, California.
Brady claimed an emphatic 21-6, 21-3 win over American David Chapman. Brady collected his fifth consecutive Men’s Open title at the US Nationals and in doing so, cemented his name among the legends of the game.
The meeting of the current star and former great caused quite a stir in the handball fraternity, leading to a packed gallery at the prestigious Los Cabelleros venue in California.
The most recent meeting of the pair was at the 2004 Ultimate PRO Handball Showdown, where Brady recorded his first ever win over Chapman to take a $50,000 prizewinning cheque, the largest ever purse in handball history.
In Friday’s showdown between the pair, Brady was in devastating form over the two games, demonstrating a varying array of shots and all with clinical finishing, as he powered to a 21-6 win in the first in a game which lasted only 27 minutes.
In the second game, the former world number one had no answers for the Breffni man as Brady pushed into top gear to finish 21- 3, with the entire match completed in just under an hour of sheer class.
Dual-star Brady said: ‘I’m delighted with the win; this has been my goal for the last few months and I’m just thrilled to take my fifth title.
Brady is also a member of the Cavan senior football panel and will return to Ireland to prepare for the Ulster SFC semi-final in the coming days.
He continued: ‘It was always going to be tough against Chapman; he’s one of the best players in the world but I really wanted to win that and I think my performance showed just how hungry I was.’
It was the game handball followers everywhere were waiting for and thousands of handball fans around the world tuned into the game, webcast live by the WPH (We Play Handball).
