Posts in category: International Events

Young Sophie Earley has been given a great honour this week. After impressing at The European Hopes Week in April she has been selected to represent both Ireland and Europe at the World Hopes Week which takes place in Luxembourg from the 10th to the 18th of August. What really puts the magnitude of this achievement into perspective is the fact that Sophie is one of only Five Europeans selected to take part in this prestigious event. The event is comprised of a training camp and a tournament, both of which Sophie will be partaking in. Based on results, as well as other factors such as attitude, four boys and four girls will be selected by the ITTF to represent the World Hopes team at the World Cadet Challenge in Fiji in October 2018. Sophie will be accompanied by the vastly experienced and accomplished coach and team leader Conn Higgins. Such a presence can only benefit young Sophie at such a high level event.  

It can’t be said enough what a great achievement this is. Sophie is following in the footsteps of Owen Cathcart and Katie McGlone who have both also had the honour of playing this event in recent years. It is clear to see that the ITTF has been good to Ireland with these selections. Sophie’s work ethic and dedication to her craft are clearly already starting to pay dividends for her. She is an example to follow.

National coach John Murphy was delighted on hearing of the selection; “This is a great opportunity for Sophie to practice with and compete against some of the best in the world in her age group. It will also be good to work with some of the best Chinese coaches who will be in attendance at the event”.

On behalf of everyone at TTI we wish Sophie all the best in this event, events prior to it and the many that will come after it. 

Alexander Gillen produced some of the form of his life as he and partner Finn Vetvik (NOR) made an incredible run to the Last 16 of the Junior Boys Doubles event at the 60th European Youth Championships in Guimaraes, Portugal.

Gillen, who was only participating in the singles events in Portugal, played a key role within the Irish squad throughout the entire event as he acted as an extra bench-man for the Cadet Boys team on the way to their historic success during the team event. Such was his influence in the training hall and playing arena, the coaches needed to send Alexander home to rest after he had lost his voice!

When the time came for Gillen to enter the fold in the singles events, he and Vetviks doubles journey started with a tight straight sets win in round 1 over Ruiz/Lillo (ESP) (9, 11, 10) with the France based player showing a high level throughout.

Next up was a mammoth challenge, as they were drawn against 7th seeds Knudde/Devos (BEL). They stood up to the challenge however, taking the opening two sets 11-9, 12-10 to open up a 2-0 lead. The Belgians responded by taking the 3rd and 4th in quickfire fashion. This left the boys facing a deciding 5th set for a place in the last 16. The Ireland/Norway pairing played some fantastic stuff when it mattered most here, and found themselves with 2 match points as they led 10-8. This wasn’t the end though as they were pegged back to 10-10. They weren’t to be denied though, as the underdogs fought bravely under the most intense of pressure to take the win 12-10 in the 5th – what a match!

In the last 16, Alexander and Finns run was halted by an in form Italian pairing, Mutti/Rossi, as the two European Champions from 2016 proved too strong, winning 3-0. A great effort nonetheless and a brilliant run by the UCD club man.

In the singles event, Alexander won his opening match in straight sets versus Corraea (POR) before being overome by Pieraert (BEL) 4-2 in another extremely positive display.

The other Irish players in action in the singles were Owen Cathcart and Mia O’Rahilly Egan, who were competing in the Cadet Boys and Girls respectively.

Owen lost out in a tough opening round 1 match to Edward Wesshagen (SWE) by a 4-1 scoreline. Unfortunately for Owen he couldn’t manage to find his form following what was an incredible team event for him as he went undefeated throughout, winning 12/12 singles. In the Doubles, Owen and Norwegian partner Borgar Haug had high hopes following their gold medals in the Spanish and Belgium Opens in recent months. It wasn’t to be this time though as they bowed out to Belarus in the Last 32.

Mia was also hoping to build on the form she showed throughout the team event as she embarked on her singles campaign. Unfortunately she couldn’t get past what was a very tough first hurdle, as she lost out to Lou Frete (FRA) in a closely fought match, 4-2. In the doubles, Mia and partner Gidney (ENG) lost out to Turkish pair Harac/Yilmaz.

So that was that for the 60th European Youth Championships in the town of Guimaraes. Next year, the 61st edition of the event will be staged in Romania, and Ireland will be back once again aiming to build on the achievements of this year.

Congratulations to all players and coaches on what was as a whole a fantastic event for the Irish in Portugal. The future looks bright for our young players!

There was major success for Ireland at the 60th European Youth Championships as the Irish Cadet Boys team set the tournament alight in Guimaraes, Portugal.

For the first time in the modern era, the boys became the only Irish team to ever reach the elite, Top 16 Division following an astonishing run of results throughout the championships, before eventually finishing the event in an unprecedented 10th place!

Cadet Boys Team Event

Starting in a group of four teams including Ireland, Slovenia, Cyprus and Iceland, the team of Owen Cathcart, Art McLaughlin & Thomas Joyce were in good form right from the off as back to back 3-0 wins set up a group decider over the strong Slovenians. 

This was always going to be a tough one for the boys, as they faced a side that got the better of them by a 3-2 scoreline at last years event in Zagreb. With the score level at 1 match apiece, the doubles was crucial and the pairing of Owen and Art stood tall when it mattered most to take a 3-1 win and give Ireland a 2-1 advantage, with Owen to go on against number 1 player Matja Novel. Owen delivered in a tight match 3-2 to give the boys a 3-1 win and with it securing top spot in the group.

This result sent the boys into unchartered teritory, as they now faced a playoff match for a place among the best 16 countries in Europe. The draw could have been kinder, as they were pitted against Spain in what was a massive match! Owen and Art were in for both the singles and doubles on this occasion. Owen got Ireland off to a good start, defeating the Spanish number 2, 3-1. Art then went in and put on the performance of his life, pushing number 1 player Guttieriez (ER30) all the way before eventually losing by the tightest of margins after 5 sets. Again the boys now faced a crunch doubles and they duly delivered, taking it 3-1 following some excellent play. This left Owen with the responsibility of sending the boys into the last 16 and he didn’t disappoint as he stepped it up another gear to cruise past Guttieriez and seal a 3-1 match score.

The pairing of Cathcart/Mclaughlin won an impressive 5/7 doubles matches throughout the event

In the last 16 the boys were up against the 4th seeds and highly fancied Belgium team, who boasted a lineup capable of going all the way in the competition. Despite their underdog status, the boys played an unbelievable match and led by the outstanding Owen Cathcart, pushed Belgium all the way! Owen put the pressure on right from the off, beating the top ranked U14 player in Europe Adrian Rassenfosse 3-1 to put Ireland 1-0 ahead. The Belgians bounced back, as Olav Kosolosky (European Number 9) beat Art 3-0. At 1-1 the boys kept up their excellent doubles play under the most severe of pressure, as they matched the Belgians point for point before eventually losing 3-1 (14-12 in the 4th, having had a set point to go to a decider). Owen was back in the fray at 1-2 down and he wasn’t ready to give up on the battle despite the doubles loss as he produced one of his top performances to topple Kosolosky in 4 sets and force the match to a decider! In the last match Art showed some of his very best Table Tennis in an entertaining contest, but Rassenfosse proved his pedigree at this level as he went on to take the match in straight sets.

Owen Cathcart taking some tactical advice from Coach John Murphy during that epic battle with Belgium

The boys couldn’t afford to let up following this defeat, as they now knew that they needed at least one win in the 9-16 play-offs in order to secure Ireland’s place in the top 16 for next year. They didn’t disappoint, as they went from strength to strength, beating Ukraine and Croatia to put themselves into the playoff for 9/10 position. More of the same from Owen in the singles as well as a great win for Thomas versus Croatia proved decisive here.

In the final playoff match, Owen was afforded a rest following his own heroics throughout the event in winning 12/12 singles matches, so the two young guns, Art and Thomas, battled it out versus the strong Czech team for 9-10 place. Despite the superior ranking of the Czechs, the boys played some great stuff, with Thomas in particular coming very close as he lost in 5 sets versus top 20 player Skala. Nonetheless, despite a 3-0 defeat, the boys finished in 10th place following what was an amazing event throughout – what an achievement!

Cadet Girls Team Event

With the boys reaching such incredible heights, it would be easy to assume that this was where the success ended for the Irish at this years European Youth Championships. This wasn’t the case however as the Cadet Girls team of Mia O’Rahilly Egan, Sophie Earley and Nicole Scott showed outstanding promise for the future as they won a record equalling 5 out of 8 team matches on their way to a top 30 finish.

In truth, the draw didn’t do the girls any favours throughout the event. Pitted in an opening group of 5 which included Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Finland, the girls always faced a massive task if they were to make a push for a high finishing position. Despite this however, 3-2 wins over both Norway and Finland guaranteed what was a very respectable 3rd place in the group.

The match versus Norway was an epic from start to finish, with a singles win from Mia and a tight loss for Sophie versus their number 1 player leaving the score at 1-1 going into the doubles. This was a key point in the match and the girls delivered under huge pressure, as they saved a match point in the 5th before winning 12-10. Mia then went down in a close match versus the number 1 which left 11 year old Sophie to do battle in the decider. She duly delivered, taking the match 3-1 to seal the win for the girls.

The Cadet Girls taking advice from Coach Mark O’Flynn during the big match versus Norway

Against Finland, it was Nicole Scott who stood tall when left in the pressure match at 2-2, following one win from Mia and a doubles success. Nicole made no mistake, keeping composed throughout as she ran out a 3-1 winner.

Unfortunately this was as good as it would get in the first phase as Italy and The Netherland showed why they are rated among the best in Europe as the girls lost out 3-0 on both occasions. 

In the second stage, the girls were placed in a 3 team group as they aimed to finish 25th. However, despite being one of the seeded teams in the section, we were faced with a tough test versus Portugal and Cyprus. The home nation proved just too strong here, despite an excellent display by Mia as she won both singles. The girls recovered valiantly though, as they got the better of Cyprus by a 3-1 scoreline.

Playing off for 29-32, the girls were eager to push on. They first overcame a difficult opponent in Latvia by the tightest of margins in what was a great team effort, as one singles win each came from Mia and Sophie, while Mia and Nicole paired up to secure the all important doubles to give them a 3-2 win. This left us playing the final match for position 29-30 versus a strong Austrian team. The girls were on a roll now though and one win each for Sophie and Mia and the doubles combination of Mia and Nicole again came up trumps as they ran out 3-1 winners. A great result to finish what was a fantastic run by the girls!

Overall, between the 2 teams, Ireland won 11 team matches and lost just 5 at these European Youth Championships. An incredible achievement by all involved!

Commenting on the results, Table Tennis Ireland President, Ken Strong said;

“I am delighted, as President, to congratulate our teams and coaches at the European Youth Championships in Portugal. These were our best performances ever at these Championships, especially with the Cadet Boys finishing in 10th place and our young Cadet Girl Team in 29th place. Well done to all!”

One year on from the success of Limerick, it was once again time for attention to turn to the Senior Schools International. The 2017 edition of the event took place in the Fort Regent Sports Centre in Jersey. As ever, 7 Nations (Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey) took part in what was sure to be an action packed weekend of Table Tennis.

Representing Ireland at the event was a squad of 12 players and 4 coaches and they didn’t disappoint as the team, led by an inspired performance from our girls in particular, came away with a total of 7 medals from all events.

Team Event

In the team event starting on Friday evening, it was our Under 18 girls team that shone the brightest, as the combination of Rebecca Finn and Nga Nguyen swept all before them in their pursuit of top spot. The girls were not to be denied when they reached the latter rounds, as they overcame England B in the semi final before producing their best display of the lot to topple England A by a 3-0 scoreline to secure gold!

The Under 16 Girls were also in fine form, as Lucy Craig and Thuy Linh Cashman played some of their very best stuff to reach the knockout stages. In the semi-final, they were excellent as they defeated Wales 5-0 to secure their place in the final. Unfortunately, they couldn’t quite overcome the final hurdle as they lost out 5-0 to a strong England A side, with the scoreline really not doing our girls justice. Nevertheless, it was a silver medal for Lucy and Thuy Linh!

The Under 18 Boys also made some waves throughout the team event, as the pairing of Charlie Fitzgerald and Dylan Grace made their way to the semi final stage. Here they faced England B, and the boys made no mistake as they took a fantastic victory by a 3-1 scoreline to set up a final showdown with England A. The final proved to be a topsy turvy affair. Dylan produced a fantastic display to overcome James Hobson 3-0 to give the boys the lead, but unfortunately this was as good as it would get as they went down narrowly 3-1. An agonising 13-11 in the fifth, doubles loss, proved decisive here. 

Elsewhere, there were some extremely positive performances by our Under 14 Girls (Silke Heinen and Pravesha Ragi), Under 16 Boys (Alan Pattison and Dillon Byrne) and Under 14 Boys (James Skelton and Ciaran O’Donoghue). Despite just missing out on the medals, all three of these pairs were right in the mix throughout.

Singles Event

On Sunday it was the turn of the Singles events to take centre stage as the 12 Irish players aimed to build on what was an extremely successful team event.

Following their gold medal winning performance in the team event, Rebecca and Nga continued their imperious form throughout the day as they made their way to the final, with Nga producing a flawless display to defeat Englands Sophie Barlow in the penultimate round. In the final, it was Rebecca who reigned supreme as she overcame her teammate 3-0 to take gold. Well done to both girls!

More success was to come in the Under 14 Girls singles, as Silke Heinen played some outstanding Table Tennis to take the gold medal following a string of big results against strong English and Welsh opposition. Excellent results from the Cork girl!

That wasn’t the last of the medal success on singles Sunday. Alan Pattison delivered a brilliant performance in a competitive Under 16 Boys category to reach the semi final and secure a bronze medal. His run was halted here by Samuel Kwan of England but Alan can be very proud of his display.

Well done to all players in what was an excellent showing by the Irish Squad. Thanks also to the four Irish coaches; Conn Higgins, Tara Fusco, Sam Logue and Shane O’Connor for their tireless contribution over the weekend and also to the three Irish umpires on show; Con O’Ceadaigh, Jay McAlister and Cecilia Armelin.

Owen Cathcart claimed a memorable victory over the weekend as he and Norwegian partner Borgar Haug won Gold in the Cadet Boys Doubles event at the 2017 ITTF Spanish Youth Open, World Junior Circuit. 

This win secured an unprecedented back-to-back Junior Pro Tour title wins for the Ireland/Norway combination, following their recent success at the ITTF Belguim Junior Open.

The run towards gold was as expected, fraught with tough challenges. Wins over Thailand and German opponents saw them progress to the quarter finals where they were faced with the stern test of Oyebode/Gualdi (ITA). Despite the Italians holding a match point in the fourth set, Owen and Borgar battled back to win a tight duece before sealing a high quality match 11-9 in the 5th set.

With a medal now secure, the boys were in no mood to settle for bronze as they prepared to take on another highly rated pairing in Cavaille/Sabhi (FRA). They flew out of the blocks on the show court, overwhelming the French pairing with relentless pressure on their way to a straight sets, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 victory. This performance paved the way for what was another excellent showing in the final, where they picked up from where they left off as they took on Martinko/Skala (CZE). Like the French, the Czechs had no answer for the outstanding service and receive of the Ireland and Norway pair, something which time and again proved decisive throughout the event.

Leading 2-0, the Czechs bounced back to put one set on the board, but this wasn’t enough as Owen and Borgar asserted themselves once again to seal the victory by a 3-1 scoreline (11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6) and with it adding yet another World Junior Circuit title to their now growing collection!

For Owen, this wasn’t the only medal collected over the weekend as he and Borgar teamed up to take a hard fought Bronze in the Cadet Boys Team event, where they lost to Belguim 3-2 in the semi-final. They earlier enjoyed wins over Spain, Germany and Russia B on route to this stage. Despite impressive victories for both boys over Europes Number 1 ranked U14 player Adrien Rassenfosse, it wasn’t enough as a rare doubles defeat and singles losses to the in form Olav Kosolosky proved decisive.

This double-medal winning success in Spain has taken Owen Cathcart’s tally of World Junior Circuit Medals to 9 – an incredible achievement for the Belfast boy!

For the rest of the Irish squad in action in Platja D’Aro, there were many highlights despite this being a particularly tough World Junior Circuit event. 

The Cadet Girls Team of Mia O’Rahilly Egan, Sophie Earley and Nicole Scott fought valiantly in the team event, and despite 3-0 defeats to France and Spain, had many chances against quality opposition. Against Spain, both Mia and Sophie lost out over 5 tight sets in their singles matches, while Mia and Nicole went down 3-1. Most impressively, Mia later showed her potential at this level later in the day as she led 2-1 and 7-7 against France Number 1 and European Number 3 Prithika Pavade before eventually going down 3-2 – an incredible effort.

The boys pairing of Thomas Joyce and Art McLaughlin also showed promise in the team competition, despite competing above their age. Thomas Joyce lost out in 4 close sets against Thailand while they also paired up to great effect against top seeds Belguim, losing the doubles narrowly to the highly rated pair of Rassenfosse/Kosolosky.

Nicole Scott picked up an impressive win in the Cadet Girls Doubles alongside her USA partner as they overcame Beguims top pairing Dahy/Duvaill 3-0 before losing out to Bardsley (ENG)/Zaderova (CZE).

In the singles, Owen enjoyed wins over team event winner Makarov (RUS) and Hardmeier (SUI) before losing out in the Last 32 to Sabhi (FRA) in 5 close sets, 3-2. Elsewhere, Mia just fell short in her bid to qualify for the main draw as she lost out in a tight group match with Lai (CAN). Sophie also produced a notable performance here, taking the opening set against European Number 9 Camille Lutz – very impressive from the 11 year old. The other Irish players fought hard and will no doubt be back aiming to progress further when they come up against the worlds best next time around.

Welcome back to our monthly European Round Up, an article built to showcase our home-grown talent and their efforts in European Table Tennis Leagues. So let’s get started here we are in December and Christmas is drawing ever closer. In the build up to the holiday period our best players haven’t been taking their foot off the gas. All through November they have continued to scour Europe’s best leagues for crucial match practice. A busy month for a lot of them, this month we’ll cover Ashley Robinson and Alexander Gillen in France, Gavin Maguire and Zak Wilson in Germany and finally Paul McCreery in Belgium.

Let’s go with our usual format of starting with Ashley Robinson, Ireland’s highest world ranked player. Two outings with Saint Louis TT this month for Ashley and first up was a cliff-hanger with Chelles TT. Ashley raced to his first two wins in very strong 3-0 performances over Laurent Thomas & Sylvain Courtois. The team moved into what looked to be an unassailable 7-4 lead only for the team to get slightly complacent and be pegged back to a 7-7 draw. Ashley lost his final match 3-0 and said ‘I struggled with my concentration in the last match, I felt my head was all over the place and I really didn’t perform well at all’, a harsh lesson learned for the Clogher native. Ashley’s second match was yet again not a straightforward one, playing the league leaders Tours 4S you would imagine it would be a battle. Ashley’s team ran out 8-1 victors on the day with Ashley providing two wins. The first win versus Nicolas Gaudelas, Ashley was 1-1 and 9-4 down but using all his battling qualities he managed to win that set deuce and take the match in 4 sets. In the second match Ashley built himself a 2-0 lead over Lucas Rigault only to be matched again at 2-2. In what sounded a very tense affair, our man took the match 14-12 and sent his team on their way to a victory over the league leaders. Ashley stands with a personal balance of 8:5 going into the last weekend of the half season in December, impressive!

Staying in France, Alexander ‘Sasha’ Gillen is one of Ireland’s most exciting young talents. A man we don’t get to see on home soil nearly enough as he plies his trade in Hennebont going to school and training simultaneously. There were two matches this month for the young Irishman. An 8-5 victory for Hennebont versus Saint Pair Broqueville and Sasha was one of the leaders in the team winning two out of three singles. He beat Jean Michel Carquin in a 3-2 epic. Following that he took out Samuel Piret in a confident display 3-1. Sasha’s good form ended there and it was a pity for him that he couldn’t make it three out of three, he lost out to Julian Pasquette. Second match now and Hennebont were 8-3 victors versus Alfort JSA. This time out Sasha kept up his form and was successful in his first match against Nicholas Benchour Martin however, in his second match he lost out to Alexis Millot in a hard fought 3-1. One more match left for Sasha for this half of the season and Sasha’s team sit second in the division. He told us there is ‘an outside chance of promotion but they have been waiting for someone to do them a favour and beat a strong team from CAEN. Good luck Sasha!

From France, we go to Germany to revisit our National Champion, Gavin Maguire. 3 matches this month for Gavin with his team Medizin Magdeburg with a hiccup thrown in there. First up Gavin’s team played against Holzhausen, a team from Leipzig renowned for their large home support and the poor conditions for a team of their calibre. Gavin provided one win and one loss for his team in a 9-5 victory over Holzhausen. A 3-0 for and a 3-0 against versus Gregor Meinel and Philip Hoffmann respectively.Due to play a double match weekend against two of the weaker teams in the league, Gavin was struck down with a viral infection on the Friday night, one day before the scheduled matches. The viral infection led to Gavin damaging his oesophagus and trapping air in his chest, leaving him bed ridden in hospital in Germany for 5 days. A dramatic turn for the worse and an unfortunate way to end November for Gavin. Luckily enough Gavin’s team managed to come through with wins in both matches even in his absence. The Dublin man was quoted ‘It was awful timing really, not only was it a double match weekend but it was also against two of the weaker teams in the division, I would have been confident to drive my personal score up and now I sit at 6:6 with one match against two of the strongest players in the league left’. Very frustrating for Maguire indeed and we’ll see how he gets on in that match in December, good luck!

Following on from that, as usual we stay in Germany to check in on Zak Wilson. This month Zak was involved in three matches for his club Hannover 96 against, SC Marklohe, SSV Neuhaus and SG Schwartz-Weiss Oldenburg. In each of the three contests Zak’s team came out on top in 9-6, 9-6 and 9-3 victories respectively. As for Zak, against Marklohe Zak had a fairly straightforward day, in his first he lost in his own words a ‘clinical three nil loss’. The loss came against Nikolai Marek who is a former second Bundesliga player, so no shame there. In the second Zak was involved in a 3-2 win but stated he was always confident of getting the win. In the second team SSV Neuhaus 9-6 Zak was extremely unlucky not to take a scalp aganst the team’s number one Florian Reinecke, after having a match ball Zak just couldn’t get over the line and lost out 3-2, a missed opportunity. Against the teams number 2 Zak was assured as ever in his second match running out a 3-0 winner against Niklas Beliaev. Lastly, in the third team match of the month Zak got another two wins on the board for his team and his personal balance. A 3-1 over Andre Stang the number one and a 3-0 over Hendrik Z’Dun. Zak told us that in his first ever match in Germany he lost against these team and the same players. He said he was ‘delighted to get his revenge and put another two wins on the board’. The Glenburn man goes into December with a super score of 12:4 and his team sits in third position in the league with a game in hand against the league leaders, December should be interesting!

Our last player to visit, Paul McCreery in Belgium. Paul was in action again for C.T.T Tiège in Division 1 of the Belgian League, this time against Rooigem-Gent A. With Tiège vying for promotion to the Super Division, every match is proving critical even at this early stage of the season. Belgian League plays with a slightly different format to Germany and France, the players play four singles per match provided that match goes that far. Paul got off to a good start this time with decisive 3-0 win over Jan-Pieter Corteel. Unfortunately, he followed up a convincing win with a convincing loss losing to Ken Waegeman 3-0. The trend continued, Paul won his next match against Peter Nijs 3-0 but followed up against David Henkens in a 3-2 deuce in the last thriller loss. The rest of the team didn’t live up to expectation and the team were victims of a 5-11 defeat. ‘Although I wasn’t overly happy with my 2/4 wins this weekend, I can feel my level improving and have a clear idea of what I need to work on before my next matches. Also, if we can win our 2 home matches in December, we can still leave ourselves well positioned for promotion coming into the second half of the season.’ A quote directly from Paul and with two matches left in December, I look forward to hearing about Paul’s steady progression back to top shape!

                That’s it for another month, another successful month for the Irish players out in Europe and I look forward to writing about their exploits in December before they take a well earned and probably not too long, break over Christmas. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the European Round Up and if you have any questions for the players please don’t hesitate to comment or send them in to the office and we’ll endeavour to include them in the next article. Until next time!