HANDBALL - BY AIDAN CROWLEY
 
Ace Dublin handballer, Eoin Kennedy (St. Brigid's, Blanchardstown),
returns today (Wednesday) from his official playing trip to Japan
where he linked up with USA No. 3 seed, California's Emmett Peixoto,
to play two high-profile
exhibition matches. The 28-year old Dubliner and the 25-year old
American also played in a mini-tournament against six
top Japanese players as well as conducting a number of coaching
clinics for local Japanese players, during their week-long visit to
the capital, Tokyo and neighbouring city, Yokohama.This was the first
officially-sanctioned playing trip by an Irish player to Japan.
 
Kennedy is currently the undisputed master of the large (60X30) court,
having created handball history last September
at The National Handball Centre, Croke Park, when he became only the
third player in the history of the domestic game to complete the
"Grand-Slam" of All-Ireland Senior titles.
In June of last year, he bagged both the All-Ireland Hardball (60X30)
Senior Singles and Senior Doubles (with long-term
doubles partner, Egin Jensen (Na Fianna, Glasnevin)) titles. Then,
three months later, he completed the clean-sweep when he firstly
netted the All-Ireland Softball (60X30) Senior Singles title and then
partnered Jensen to
capture the Senior Doubles crown of the same championships.
 
 
Kennedy has so far been unable to replicate the same level of achievement
on the small or international (40X20) court but he is currently the Irish No. 2
seed in the (40X20) rankings courtesy of being a beaten finalist in the two
biggest Irish (40X20) tournaments last year. In March, he was beaten in the
Mens Open Singles final of the FBD Irish Nationals by top Cork player
Tony Healy (Ballydesmond), whom he had partnered in 2006 to capture the
World Mens Open Doubles crown at the World Championships, in Edmonton,
Canada.Then, in April, he was defeated by World Men's Open Singles
champion, Cavan's Paul Brady (Kingscourt) in the Senior Singles final
of
the All-Ireland (40X20) Championships.The Dubliner has shown that he
can mix it with the best on the (40X20) court while retaining his
status as king of the (60X30) court.
 
Kennedy, who is an engineering lecturer in NUI Maynooth, and Peixoto, from
Watsonville, California, last met in early December at the prestigious
Casey/Lawlor Cup between the USA and Ireland, held at the South End
Rowing Club in San Francisco. On that particular occasion, the Dublin
maestro showed his credentials on the (40X20) court in no uncertain
terms,
as he defeated the top two American seeds, Sean Lenning (No. 1) from
Seattle, Washington State and California's Naty Alvarado Jnr.(No. 2),
in two pivotal
matches that helped to secure an Irish victory.
 
Meanwhile, Peixoto has consistently been one of the top-ranking American
players and has never been out of the first five in the USHA seedings in
recent years. Surprisingly though, he experienced defeat twice in that last
Casey/Lawlor Cup, losing out to Mayo's Dessie Keegan (Ballaghaderreen)
in the singles and partnering Alvarado Jnr. to a doubles defeat at the
hands of Healy and Armagh's Charly Shanks (Clann Eireann, Lurgan).
 
In the first exhibition match, consisting of one game only, played on
Saturday, in Yokohama, Kennedy and Peixoto battled for over an hour in
a thrilling
clash, which held the Japanese spectators enthralled, with Kennedy
eventually closing it out on a scoreline of 21-15.In the second
exhibition match, again consisting of one game only, played on Monday
at the Tokyo YMCA and covered on Japanese T.V., Peixoto got his
revenge when he defeated Kennedy in another cracking encounter on a
scoreline of 21-12, drawing the series.
 
Handball is a relatively new sport in Japan. The Japanese first tasted
competition at the highest level at the 1994 World Championships,held
in Ireland, when they acquited themselves well and they have
participated at every World Championships since, although not with the
same degree of success.
The main purposes of the trip by Kennedy and Peixoto were to forge
links with the Japan Handball Association while strengthening the
bonds between the three countries at international level, exposing
Japanese players to top-tier international competition and raising the
profile of the sport in Japan.
 
An enthusiastic Kennedy said:"The trip has been fantastic.We were treated
really well in both Tokyo and Yokohama by our hosts. It was a great
experience to play handball in such a unique setting and the
exhibition
matches proved really popular with the locals in both cities.Also it
was great to see the response to the coaching clinics and the
mini-tournament. I am sure that handball will now grow as a sport in
Japan as they have some very good players and could rival other
countries in due course."
 
Meanwhile, at home, this year's Ballydesmond (40X20) Open Doubles
Tournament, held in Ballydesmond, Co. Cork, proved to be a huge
success. The winners of the main competition were Limerick minor aces,
C. J. Fitzpatrick (Broadford) and Seamus O'Carroll (Cappagh) (who
currently hold five out of the six All-Ireland Minor titles available)
who defeated Cork duo, Shane Hedigan (Liscarroll) and John Herlihy
(St. Finbarr's, Cork City) in a cracking final over three games, on a
scoreline of 14-21, 21-8, 11-10. In the Plate final, there was victory
for Tipperary's Denis White and Paul McGrath (both Cashel) over the
Laois pairing of Paddy and Michael Donovan (both Monavea) over two
games, on a scoreline of 21-7, 21-12.
ENDS.