With just two days to go until the earlybird entry closes for the oneills.com 2024 World Wallball Championships, the latest international players to confirm their attendance are two of the leading Basque handballers.
Lur Ziarrusta and Mikel Beldarrain Emaldi are the top wallball players in the Basque Country at present. Both men have a background in the very popular Basque sport of pelota and have crossed over to wallball, where they have made waves on the European Tour.
Last weekend in Vittoria at the Frontón Ogueta - Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-Gasteiz, where there is a 3,000-seater gallery and which regularly attracts packed crowds for pelota matches, the local club organised an invitational wallball event.
In a strong field which included Englishmen Christian Blackaby and Dan Grant as well as a number of top Basque and Valencian players, Lur and Mikel advanced to the final of the Men’s Open, where Lur ran out winner in a hard-fought 11-10 tiebreaker.
In the Women’s Open, Ireland was represented by Eilise McCrory and Catriona Casey. Despite a late arrival due to delayed flights, Casey played superbly to see off McCrory in a tiebreaker before winning another tiebreaker in the final against Dutch star Marrit Zeinstra.
The Basque duo are looking forward to attending the event in Limerick, which promises to be spectacular.
“We can’t wait, it looks like an amazing event and we will be training hard for it,” Mikel told GAAHandball.ie.
“I am looking forward to taking on the best players in Europe and the world, it promises to be a brilliant week.”
The custom-built 10-court arena will play host to some of the best wallball players in the world, with Conor McElduff and Catriona Casey the official Irish representatives in the Open Singles and Cormac Finn/Mikey Kelly and Martina McMahon/Aoife McCarthy representing Team Ireland in the Open Doubles.
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