by Paul Fitzpatrick
The handball revolution has been quietly gathering pace for some time but Balls readers may not be aware that the One Wall version of the sport now has its own European Pro Tour.
And today [SUN] was a historic one on tour as an Irish player picked up an Open Singles tournament win for the first time.
Tyrone's two-time Irish One Wall Nationals champion Conor McElduff (fittingly, given his exploits, known as 'Duffman" to his friends) became the first Irish handballer to win a tournament on the newly-formed tour when he emerged victorious at the Dutch Open in the small town of Franeker.
The 21-year-old right-hander, who you may remember won the Irish Nationals at Breaffy House last July to earn his trip to Canada for the Worlds, was in excellent form throughout the weekend, seeing off Belgium's Tanguay Metayer in the quarter-final and the UK's Dan Grant in the semi-final.
And he delivered a tremendous performance to easily dismiss Team USA's Danny Torres - who had beaten Armagh player Conall McCavitt in the other semi-final - 21-2 in the final.
The tournament attracted One Wall handball players from nine countries.
Over 300 One Wall handball courts have been constructed in Ireland in the last three years. To learn more, see GAAhandball.ie.
