At Leg 2 of the STIGA Challenger event in Club Donic, Lucan, attendance records of this innovative Tournament Series were smashed with 139 children taking part. For many, it would have been their first experience of tournament play, having been introduced to the game by ITTA Coaches through ITTA Participation Projects. Every player got at least 7 matches, with players banded into divisions to ensure they played at the appropriate level. The group winners went on their division semi finals and final. The children came from all over Leinster with many schools/clubs in Dublin represented but also great numbers from Carlow, Mountrath, Ballyroan and Wexford.
The ITTA in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council funds table tennis coaching in many schools throughout the country. It was great to see the hard work of the students, teachers and coaches paying off with many different schools represented in the later stages of the competition. Particulalry impressive were the CBS Wexford trio who claimed all 3 top spots in Division One. Already, we are seeing players from Divisions 3 and 4 last year make the move into higher divisions now as they contined their development. Many thanks to our extremely hardworking team of parents and volunteers who contributed massively to the success of the event. Also thanks to our coaches who are doing a great job in not only developing new players but promoting exciting tournaments for their players. See main results below:
Division 11st Place: Eammon Roche (Wexford CBS)2nd Place: Stefan Kalchev (Wexford CBS)Joint 3rd Place: Harry O’Reardon (Wexford CBS) Stephen Farrell (Club Donic)
Division 21st Place: Claire Heller (St. Ronans)2nd Place: Kevin Wang (Club Donic)Joint 3rd Place: Justynne Fabian (Carlow) Emily McWey (Ballyroan)
Division 31st Place: Alex Voznyuk (Club Donic)2nd Place: Emma Kavanagh (Carlow)Joint 3rd Place: Ger Maher (St. John’s) Lily Wang (Club Donic)
Division 41st Place: Kate Whelan (Ballyroan)2nd Place: Daniel Owenarak (Carlow)Joint 3rd Place: Naill Cawley (Carlow) Conor Byrne (St. John’s)
Division 51st Place: Scott Jestin (Rathdowney)2nd Place: Nathan Butler (St. John’s)Joint 3rd Place: Luke Massey (no club) Aisling Cowan (Tara)
Division 61st Place; Daria Dorynska (St Ronan’s)2nd Place: Grace Seery (St. Ronan’s)Joint 3rd Place: Claire Healy (Club Donic) Cara Brady (Mountrath)