Press Release

All-Ireland 60x30 Intervarsity Championships

On October 19^th-21^st the Irish Collegiate Handball Association will host the All-Ireland 60x30 Intervarsity Championships at Dublin venues of Ceannaras, Croke Park and Na Fianna. The tournament opens the college handball calendar, catering for both a singles and team tournament covering all grades.

The ICHA expect a large contingent of players to attend, representing colleges from all corners of the country. With local venues, the large Dublin clubs of DCU, DIT and UCD expect big entries and new clubs in ITB, ITT and TCD may also join in the event. The expected increase in participation is linked to the recruitment initiative carried out by the ICHA over the previous 2-3 weeks. The ICHA’s aims in this scheme were to continue its promotion of handball at third level education while offering a helping hand to colleges interested in creating a handball club and to those who have had teams in the past but haven’t competed in a number of years.

In reference to the tournament, the team title covering grades from Men’s A to Men’s C will be hotly contested by DIT, DCU and UL, who made up six of the final positions in last years competition with DIT taken honours in Men’s A and Men’s B while UL went home with the Men’s C team title. The team competition is based around four matches consisting of two singles and one doubles match. The matches are graded on an aggregate scoring system where every ace is counted making the competition a true test for any team.

The singles tournament also has its own attractions with some key players in the Men’s A grade. Ger Coonan (UL) will return to the event as defending champion and having also added the 40x20 title to his cabinet he will be keen to keep his run of form going. Determined to oppose Coonan’s defence will be fellow UL student and this years All-Ireland 60x30 Intermediate finalist Ollie Cassidy along with last year’s semi-finalist Brian Carroll (DIT) and finalist Rikki O’Gara (NUIG).

The preparation is now close to completion and the ICHA are now looking forward to registration on Friday 19^th October where they will be very happy to greet its existing members and give a warm welcome to any new players. Information for the event can be obtained by emailing info@ichahandball.com