Brady advances to last four of World Championships

Handball news

Paul Fitzpatrick at Croke Park

Paul Brady’s dream of a sixth Open Singles title at the World Handball Championships is still alive after he turned back Corkman Daniel Relihan 15-5, 15-6 in the quarter-final at Croke Park today.

After earlier wins over San Francisco’s Loren Collado and another Corkman, Michael Hedigan, Brady, who at 45 is the oldest player in the field, again showed his class in comfortably defeating Relihan, who had enjoyed a huge win over top Mexican Luis Cordova on Wednesday.

“The earlier rounds are about getting through them, the business end starts now from this point. I feel good, there is no stiffness, I feel fresh enough. I now have 48 hours until I play again on Saturday,” Brady said.

“It’s all business now at this point, you can’t let up. You’ve got to be at your best from now on.”

Brady made a sensational return to the All-Ireland Championships earlier this year, losing the final on an injury default when leading well against Robbie McCarthy of Westmeath.

“A lot of those lads have come of age, they’re all at their peaks. They’re 31, 28… Plus they’ve started to win a lot more tournaments that I haven’t been playing in in the last five or six years actively so they are a lot more confident.

“I’ve got to rewind the clock and hit the levels I was hitting 10 years ago, that’s just the way it is at this point.”

Brady meets Galway’s Martin Mulkerrins in the semi-final on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Kingscourt’s Joe Dillon has advanced to the semi-final of the A Singles after he defeated New York’s Jack Wu in a tiebreaker. Dillon will meet Clare left-hander Sean Coughlan tomorrow (Friday).