BY MICHAEL O’LEARY
It’s a huge week ahead in Handball with The 2024 World 4 Wall Handball Championships taking place at a variety of venues including across Kilkenny.
The Championships start tomorrow (Saturday) and there will be matches every day throughout the week until the final day of action on Sunday week November 3rd, as The National Championships are also run in conjunction with The Worlds.
This is the second World Handball Championship to have taken place in Ireland this year as The World Wallball Championships took place at The University of Limerick, and having two World Handball Championships in Ireland in the one year has given the sport a higher profile to an International audience.
The World 4 Wall Handball Championships will be held in 4 counties across Ireland in Kilkenny, Dublin, Carlow and Laois, with matches in 8 venues across Kilkenny.
The matches will be played in Lisdowney, Galmoy, Clogh, Kilfane, Windgap, Callan, Kells and O’Loughlin Gaels with several competitions in both Adult and Juvenile.
Matches will also be played in Tinryland, Garryhill and Borris in Co. Carlow, Cullohill and Monavea in Laois, and also in The National Handball Centre in Croke Park, where the best of Irish and International Handball competitors will be playing throughout the week.
The World Wallball Championships in August brought about plenty of glory for local competitors, and hopes are high that further World Championship glory will be replicated in The 4 Wall competitions with plenty of local interest on show.
The underage grades have attracted a massive entry in both boys and girls competitions, with most of the entrants drawn from Ireland and a spread of titles across the various counties is almost guaranteed.
Having The World 4 Wall Handball Championship in Ireland is a perfect opportunity to showcase the sport to a wider audience, and it’s massive for Kilkenny to be one of the hosts of these Championships.
It would most certainly be extra special and unique for any of the local handballers to win a World Championship Medal on home territory, as the county gets ready for the biggest Handball event on the planet.
