More than 65 athletes from six different nations traveled to the Co. Wicklow town to compete and take part in the celebrations. This year to mark the occasion, Arklow Racquetball Club had five players from the international tour grace the steps to compete with local players and show them what the highest standard of the sport can look like.
The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a coaching clinic by Team Dovetail which consisted of the five international players, two Irish players, Leo Vasquez, Mike Kinkin and his wife Kristen from the US.
The Irish players were enthralled as the international players took to the court to play an exhibition match to kick off the session. Afterwards, they then split the group and imparted a few words of wisdom and on court training tips to the players.
The tournament begins at 9am on Saturday morning using five courts around the area to accommodate one of the largest entries the club has seen in a long time.
Courts in the Arklow Coral Leisure Centre, Coolgreaney Handball Club, Coolboy Handball Club and Davidstown were used, and Arklow Racquetball Club would like to extend their sincere gratitude to all the clubs for coming together and helping them pull this off.
On Saturday evening the club held a banquet in the Sailing Club, where the mayor Pat Kennedy held a mini civic reception for all the international and European players who were visiting for the first time. Racquetball Ireland also inducted Gary lynch from Belfast into their Hall of Fame for all the work he has done throughout the years.
“On Sunday we had a few tears, but we were also very lucky to have Ann Barnes and family over to the center to present the sportsperson of the tournament award on behalf of the late Michael Barnes who was the founder of the club,” said Antonia Neary of Arklow Racquetball Club.
“James Ryan (Rossmore) took home the prize for his great attitude and his helpfulness over the weekend. We would like to thank the Barnes family for sponsoring the prize and for being there to present it,” she added.
On Sunday the remaining semi-finals and the finals were played off. It was the international players who stole the show as Andres Acuna (Costa Rica) bagged both the men’s open and the men’s open doubles titles with his partner Sean Lyng (Horsewood).
In the women’s, Maria Renee Rodriguez from Guatemala took home the singles title after defeating the All-Ireland champion Aisling Hickey from Rossmore.
Andres Acuna defeated his teammate Andree Parilla (Mexico) in the semi-finals to reach the final. While on the other side of the draw, Lalo Portillo (Mexico) defeated James Ryan (Rossmore). This left teammates Andres and Lalo to battle it out in the final. They put on a showstopping match with it all coming down to a mere two points in the fifth set where Andres won 13-11.
In the ladies singles, Aisling really stepped up to show us what a true Irish champion looked like but Alas Maria proved too strong when she pulled away and defeated Aisling 3-1.
However, it was not all doom and gloom for the Irish players who refused to give the international players every title. All-Ireland doubles team Aisling Hickey and Antonia Neary (Arklow) paired up and showed the players what the fighting Irish really meant by defeating Maria Renee Rodriguez and Susan Farrell (Arklow) in the ladies open doubles final.
It was double celebrations for Arklow’s Reece Young who took the C/D singles title over his club mate James Smith and took the CD doubles title with his brother Elliot Young in a thrilling match against Billy Walsh and Don Lawlor (Kilkenny)
Full results can be found at www.racquetball.ie.
“We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Arklow Racquetball Committee who have been working tirelessly to bring the tournament together,” said Antonia.
“We would like to thank Racquetball Ireland for all their help promoting the tournament both nationally and internationally. A massive thank you is also extended to Team Dovetail who really made this an unforgettable Irish Open.
“Thank you to Coral Leisure Center who spent the weeks leading up to the tournament helping to spruce up the center.
“Thank you to our main sponsors Gearbox, Blueprint, Intersport Elverys, Bridgewater Shopping Centre, ARC Building products and to every other sponsor who made this the amazing event it was.
“Arklow Racquetball Club is always looking for new players so if you would like to give it a go you can pop over to Coral Leisure center for a trial run Wednesdays from 7pm to 9pm to see how you get on,” he added.