Worlds best come to Ireland for Handball Nationals

There will be a record entry and capacity crowd in attendance at this year's GAA Handball One Wall Nationals, to be staged in Breaffy House Sports Arena in Castlebar, over the coming weekend.The weekend action will commence on Thursday evening (30th June 2011) with an International Challenge as Ireland will take on the best from USA, Puerto Rico and England as the build-up to the 2012 World Championship in Ireland gathers pace.

The Mens and Ladies Open events in 2011 are sure to attract massive interest with the best from USA, Puerto Rico and England all travelling to take on the Irish on their home patch. In the Mens Open Singles, Armagh's Charly Shanks is bidding for an impressive 4-in-a-row, following his thrilling tie-break final victory over Westmeath's Robbie McCarthy 12 months ago. This time around though that duo face an imperious challenge in the form of 4 of the best one-wall players in the world.

Yuber Pee Wee Castro (USA) is the reigning US Open One Wall (Big Blue) Champion while he recently teamed up with Willie Polanco to secure the US Pro Doubles crown also. Wally Armano and Herman Mendez defeated Ireland in the quarter-finals of the Federations Cup back in November 2010 in Italy, and went on to claim that title for Puerto Rico for the first time by denying favourites, USA, in the final.

The level of action anticipated in this event will be spectacular and will certainly provided awesome thrills and spills for the expected capacity crowd to the Breaffy Sports arena.

In the Ladies Open event, Down's Lorraine Havern became the youngest winner of the title in 2010 when she defeated Mayo's Pauline Gallagher in last year's final. She will face a major test in 2011 to retain that crown though in one of the most competitive ladies fields seen in Irish Handball to date. Three times champion, Marianna Rushe (Roscommon), will be fancied to maintain a near impeccable record in Irish One Wall Handball while Ashley Prendiville (Kerry) and Pauline Gallagher (Mayo) will all have a major say in the destination of the 2011 honours. However, USA's Karen McConney and Michelle Melendez and Sophia Murphy from Puerto Rico will add major international class to a terrific draw in the Ladies code.

"The One Wall Nationals has exploded in recent years and the 2011 event looks to be another brilliant advertisement for the game. With the international flavour this time around and the ongoing work to see Handball united internationally with the Olympic Games as a very real objective, this weekend will be a fantastic occasion for anyone to see just how exciting this sport is" commented GAA Handball Ireland CEO, Chris Curran.

"Over 500 players and hundreds more spectators will converge on Castlebar over the weekend and with those participants ranging in age from 8 to 84, I think there can be no better portrait of a game that is for life but this will also show how Handball events are a fantastic family and social occasion. The very best one wall players in the World will be there and Italy are also sending an under-age team to compete so overall an absorbing weekend of action and fun will be in store with the action to be recorded as part of The GAA Handball Show series on TG4."

In addition, it will be a very significant weekend in terms of plans for the sport worldwide. The International Federation workgroup committee, formed in 2010, will meet to continue progress in forming a new International Federation with the objective of bringing handball to the Olympic Games. There are currently 33 countries in line to play their role in this unprecedented challenge and with GAA Handball Ireland spearheading the process, these continue to be very exciting times for the sport in Ireland.