The World Players of Handball and the Houston Handball Club are thrilled to host the WPH Race 4 Eight V Stop #4 & Texas State Doubles Championships, featuring the R48Pro and SR48Pro players in the world competing on handball’s most prestigious professional handball tour live on the Watch ESPN App.
The Race 4 Eight #1 pro, 5-time defending World Champion and defending Houston Race 4 Eight Champion Paul Brady will be making the 4500-mile transatlantic trip from his home in Ireland to Houston in search of his 12th Race 4 Eight title in his 14th Race 4 Eight start. Brady will contend with his fellow “Elite 8” rivals in “H-Town,” as current WPH R48 Player’s Champion Sean Lenning, 9-time R48 Champion Luis Moreno, San Francisco Olympic Club’s Olympian of the Year Emmett Peixoto, three-time R48 finalist Mando Ortiz, R48 New Orleans semifinalist David Fink, 2015 WPH R48 Rookie of the Year Daniel Cordova and New Orleans finalist and Irish sensation Killian Carroll will aim to dethrone the handball’s undisputed #1.
Houston has also attracted arguably the most talented R48 qualifier in the five-year history of the Race 4 Eight tour, with former WPH #1 and former R48 Champion Allan “The Blonde Bombshell” Garner returning to the tour after a 25-month layoff, five-time R48 finalist Nary Alvarado and former top five pro tour veteran Tyler Hamel entering their first qualifiers, former Elite 8 member Luis Cordova aiming to improve us his New Orleans quarterfinal appearance, former collegiate national champion Ricardo Diaz making his second R48 start and seven pros currently ranked on the R48 Power Rankings entered in the qualifier.
“The Houston qualifier is so strong that we’ll likely see top 15 pros fail to qualify and those that do qualify likely to reek havoc in the main draw,” revealed WPH ESPN play-by-play broadcaster David Vincent.
Houston was the site of the first Senior Race 4 Eight event in 2013 and the 2016 Houston Race 4 Eight proudly hosts the 12th SR48 event in the fourth season of SR48 play. Many of the top guns in the senior game have entered, as five-time SR48 champion and SR48 #1 Marcos Chavez leads a strong SR48 field that includes three-time SR48 champion Naty Alvarado, SR48 I Player’s Champion Andy Schad, 2015 SR48 finalist Tyler Hamel, SR48 ageless star Dan Armijo and rising SR48 star Dan Zimet.
The WPH Race 4 Eight V Houston Stop #4 & Texas State Championships Powered by ESPN features not only the best pro handball players in the game, but also exciting junior clinics featuring Race 4 Eight pros coaching junior and collegiate players. The Texas State Doubles Championships features doubles competitions in which top pros, local and regional handball talent will compete for skill level and age division doubles titles. What a weekend!
WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s Race 4 Eight V powered by ESPN features seven regular season stops, culminating in The Player’s Championship in Portland, OR to identify the top eight point earners on the tour. Similar to Nascar’s Nextel Cup and the FedEx PGA Playoffs, players earn points in the Race 4 Eight’s first six stops to qualify for the season-ending Player’s Championship and $20k first place prize. It all happens live on Watch ESPN!
The Race 4 Eight V held its first event in October of 2015 at the Simple Green U.S. Open in Fountain Valley, CA and its second event at the R48 V Tucson Memorial in November. Following a holiday break in December, Race 4 Eight hosted its third event in New Orleans in January of 2016, the fourth event in Houston in February, the fifth event in New York City, the sixth event in Salt Lake City, UT in April and The Player’s Championship in Portland, OR in May.
For more information on the Race 4 Eight V Tour please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at vincent@wphlive.tv or World Players of Handball Development Director David Fink at fink@race4eight.com. For more information on the World Players of Handball, please visit wphlive.tv
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer