Brady off to bright start at Worlds
Paul Fitzpatrick
Paul Brady remains on course for his sixth world title after he cruised to an easy win yesterday at the University of Minnesota.
The Men's Open Singles field at the World Handball Championships is coming to the boil with six Irishmen, one American and one Mexican making up the line-up for today's quarter-finals. Brady, while playing within himself, was moving very well in his opening match but will face a sterner test today against Mexican Luis Cordova.
Former Clare underage hurlers Diarmaid Nash and Colin Crehan were involved in the pick of the round of 16 matches last night. Both men came through in tiebreakers, Nash holding off a hot-shooting Danny Cordova (21-10, 18-21, 11-7) while Crehan toppled sixth-seeded Armando Ortiz of Los Angeles (19-21, 21-11, 11-3) in an eyecatching result.
Elsewhere, number one seed Killian Carroll from Cork survived an early scare against New York-based Mayo right-hander Stephen Cooney, rallying from 18-13 down in game one to win 21-19, 21-5.
Westmeath's Robbie McCarthy stuttered a little early on but still had enough to beat Californian Vic Perez 21-18, 21-11 while Martin Mulkerrins delivered a flawless attacking display to defeat Wicklow's Michael Gregan on an impressive 21-8, 21-6 scoreline.
Reigning champion Paul Brady, meanwhile, comfortably dismantled American Eric Torres (21-12, 21-3) to ease into the last eight, which are down for decision this afternoon, with the Cavanman meating Cordova at 7pm. That match can be watched live here: https://www.facebook.com/wphlive/
The Women's Open also serves off today with Pauline Gallagher (Mayo), Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath), Ciana Ní Churaoín (Galway) and Aishling O'Keeffe (Cork) all in action.
Meanwhile, Mullagh lads Niall Magee and Adam McKenna picked up silver medals in the 13&U Wallball doubles, with Niall also reaching the singles final. Both boys are in action again today in the four-wall grades as are Virginia duo Matthew Smith and Oliver McCrystal.
Men's Open Singles Quarter-finals
Martin Mulkerrins v Colin Crehan (4pm, Irish time)
Killian Carroll v Diarmaid Nash (5pm)
Robbie McCarthy v Sean Lenning (6pm)
Luis Cordova v Paul Brady (7pm)
Niall Magee in the 13&U wallball final.