Posts in category: International Events

Top seeds Gavin Maguire and Hannah Lynch-Dawson swept all before them in Tallaght over the weekend to claim their respective men’s and women’s Leinster GP singles titles at the National Basketball Arena.

Maguire was untroubled for most of the day, as he brushed aside Dylan Grace and Alan Walsh in the Quarter and Semi Finals. In the Final he was due a stern test against top Junior Zak Wilson. Wilson was in fine form having battled through a tough side of the draw. He overcame the experienced Na Ning in 5 sets in the quarters, before he accounted for an in form Peter Graham (who himself had gotten the better of 2nd seed Ryan Farrell in his quarter) in the semis in 3 close sets.

However the final was all Maguire, as the soon to be number 1 ranked player asserted himself from the off to snuff out any hope that his young opponent had of causing an upset. The Dubliner prevailed in 3 sets to make it back to back National Ranking Titles following his victory at the Irish Senior Classification.

In the Women’s event, Hannah Lynch-Dawson went in as top seed and pre-tournament favourite and she duly delivered. However she didn’t have it all her own way. She was forced to battle her way past Munster’s Chloe O’Halloran in the Semis before she was faced with her biggest scare of all.

In the final she was pitted against surprise package Mia O’Rahilly Egan, and the 13 year old Leinster girl showed just what a young player she is as she pushed her more senior opponent all the way in a pulsating encounter. Mia led after taking the first set and Hannah was forced to save game points in the second to avoid falling 2-0 behind. Having rescued that set the fight didn’t end there as Mia levelled the match at 2 sets all before racing into a 3-0 lead in the decider. It was here that Hannah really showed another gear as she pulled herself back into the set before racing away to take the match and with it the Leinster Grand Prix Title.

To see the full results of the weekend, including the Banded, Veterens, Restricted and U21 events please click here

Yesterday saw the return home of the successful duo who represented Ireland at the Czech Para Table Tennis Open in Ostrava.  Both Tom Davis (Class 10) and Conor O’Callaghan (Class 6) managed to pick up a bronze medal in their respective team events.

Tom teamed up with the Class 9 Singles Gold Medallist Koyo Iwabuchi from Japan.  And in a mixed Class 9-10 event they finished top of their group which also included Germany and Poland.  Their other most notable win was over the host team of the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.  Unfortunately they came up against a very strong Russian team in the semi-final, and lost narrowly (3-2.)

Meanwhile Conor was partnered by Raimondo Alecci from Italy and Vjekoslav Gregorovic from Croatia in the Class 6-7 event.  Despite losing to a strong Czech/Belgian team in the group stage, they had terrific wins over both Russia and Japan before losing the semi-final to eventual silver medalists Romania/Israel.

Earlier in the week both players had played the singles events and Conor, on his debut senior international tournament, played really well despite not qualifying for the knockout stages.  He took a set off both Bobrov from Israel (world-ranked 13) and Alecci from Italy (world-ranked 14.)  At 14 years of age, he certainly was not out of place in the senior ranks.

In the Class 10 singles Tom had superb wins over Nikita Perevozchikov from Russia and Ralf Meyer from Germany.  He lost narrowly (3-1) in the group to Ivan Karabec from the Czech Republic who is world-ranked 5.  Tom eventually went out in the quarter-finals to Trunov from Ukraine, narrowly missing out on his first international singles medal.

National Coach Ronan Rooney was full of praise for both players following their performances.  “They fully deserved to win their team-event medals, and Tom in particular was very unfortunate to miss out on a singles medal.  Conor also played well and has already shown that he belongs in this company.  He will benefit greatly from this experience.”

On behalf of Table Tennis Ireland, we would like to congratulate Coach Rooney and our two young players on their performance in Ostrava.

It was always going to require a monumental effort from our men’s team and despite the many positives, relegation from the Challenge division was the outcome following a gruelling 4 days in Russia. 

Promoted to the heights of the 2nd tier of European Table Tennis prior to the event, Ekateringburg presented the Irish mens team of Gavin Maguire, Paul McCreery and Ashley Robinson (led by NPC John Murphy) with a unique opportunity to retain their place in the division and with it, secure a place in the European League.

The Irish started their campaign on Friday 25th, with matches against Turkey and Norway ahead of them on the opening days play.

Turkey were first up and despite encouraging performances from all 3 players, our boys went down 3-0 against a quality European outfit. Later in the evening was the group meeting with Norway. Here was perhaps the highlight of the tournament for the boys, who stormed to a 3-0 win against a strong Table Tennis nation. Ashley Robinson was the star man here, using his razor sharp serve/receive and half-long attack to get the better of No1 player Espen Ronneberg by a 3-2 scoreline – excellent work against a much higher ranked opponent. 

The final group match took place on Saturday morning as the boys went down 3-0 against a quality Slovak team. Gavin Maguire noted afterwards that it was probably the best team our men had played against in a major championship. Despite this, Paul McCreery had chances at No3 against Thomas Keineth, but the experienced German born player was a bit too strong in the end, taking the match 3-1. 

Next up was a date with Finland on Sunday, and having finished 3rd in the group to get a slightly more favourable match, this one was huge. With No1 player Benedek Olah in their ranks, it was always going to be a massive challenge however and so it proved as we went down 1-3 – with Gavin Maguire taking the solitary win for the Irish at the number 3 position. A massive turning point here came in the 2nd match, as Paul McCreery went down 11-9 in the 5th to the Finnish No2 player. 

This left the Irish men in a battle for 29-32 positions. Only back to back wins now would ensure survival in the Challenge division. The first of these two matches was against old rivals Estonia. Coach Murphy tweeted before this one saying that the boys needed a big performance, and it must be said that he certainly got what he asked from his team.

Despite finding themselves clinging on after losing the opening 2 rubbers by the tightest of margins, Ashley led a resurgent Irish charge with victory over the defensive skills of Alexsander Lushin. Paul then produced a huge performance to defeat the highly rated Smirnov in 5 sets. This left Gavin Maguire in the pressure cooker against the ice cool Vallot Vainula. Despite a fine performance, Gav couldn’t quite complete the comeback as he went down in 5 sets, meaning the men had to settle for a place in the Standard Division next time around.

Positives were gained later in the day however, as the boys managed to regroup to beat Norway once again, this time by a 3-2 scoreline, to finish the tournament with a victory. Gavin made the difference here, as his 2 wins on top of Ashleys win at No3 were enough to seal victory.

Overall, there were many positives despite the disappointment for our young mens team at this years European Championships. To come within striking distance of returning to European League is a measure of the level our guys are at.

They are an example to us all and there is no doubt they will be back again!  

The Cadet girls – Katie McGlone and Kate Whelan were first up early this morning for a tightly fought contest with Bulgaria.  The Bulgarians proved that little bit too strong winning out 3-2 despite good irish performances.   Next up for the girls is Lithuania at 6pm this evening.  

The Junior boys team of Zak Wilson, Owen Cathcart and Alexander Gillen are currently playing Belgium.  As it stands Belgium have the edge leading 2-0.   Owen Cathcart is on the table now against Florian Cnudden and it’s 1-1  (11-9, 9-11) 

The ETTU has set up a live stream showing the action on tables 1 and 2.  It can be accessed on http://ettu.laola1.tv.as well as in the LAOLA1.tv APPs (IOS/Android).

Owen Cathcart and Katie McGlone led a resurrgent Irish charge as Singles Sunday proved a day to remember at the 2015 Senior Schools International in Perth, Scotland, over the weekend.

‘Close – but no cigar’ was the theme of the day following the Team Event, as despite many strong performances across all categories, the 6 Irish Teams on show were left rueing their missed opportunities as the dust settled on Saturday evening. The U16 Girls (Katie McGlone & Kate Whelan) came closest to Gold as they were pipped at the post by a 3-2 scoreline against a stong England A side while it was a similar story for the U14 Boys (Owen Cathcart & Conor Nugent) but they too had to settle for Silver as they couldn’t quite get to grips with a sharp England A team in the Final. Our young U14 girls team of Mia Egan and Natasya Barry battled hard to earn a bronze – a fine effort from two of our brightest young stars, with years to spare at this level. While finally, Bronze was also the colour for the U18 Boys (Alan Walsh & Ryan McConkey) and the U18 Girls (Hannah Lynch Dawson & Chloe O’Halloran), with English opposition again proving a bit too strong.    

With little time to dwell on what had gone before, National Coach John Murphy together with fellow NPC’s Conn Higgins, Gavin Maguire and Sarah Timlin were charged with the task of rallying the troops to go again into Sundays Singles events. The response was immediate as the squad dusted themselves off and hit the ground running on Sunday morning. 

Katie McGlone, Kate Whelan and Owen Cathcart got the ball rolling with convincing group victories to kick off the day, but it didn’t stop there, as 10 Irish players went on to reach the quarter finals of their respective age groups in what proved to be a real signal of intent by the group.

Alan Walsh starred in the U18 Boys singles, taking out top seed Gabriel Achampong of England in the Quarter Final in 5 gripping sets before his run was eventually halted by Mitchell Jones of England in the Semis. Kate Whelan also reached the Semi Final of the U14 Girls, making it there with relative ease before going down in a nail biting 5 setter to English girl Gauri Duhan 15-13 in the decider.

This meant that Katie McGlone and Owen Cathcart were the only Irish left standing late in the day.

Seeded 2, Katie’s semi final draw presented a big challenge, as she faced old rival Kate Cheer, who she lost out to in the Team Final the previous day. There would be no repeat of that result however, as the Irish number 1 ranked junior girl nicked a close first set before going on to dominate her English opponent in 3 quick fire games. In the Final she faced Scottish surprise package Rebecca Plaistow, who had accounted for top seed Letitia McMullen of England in the Semi Final. Despite a nervy opening, Katie showed her class from 1 set a piece to pull away from her Scottish opponent and claim a convincing 3-1 victory and the 2015 Senior Schools U16 Title.

This made way for the U14 Boys Final where Owen Cathcart was lying in wait following a flawless charge towards the crown following victory over William Ibbitson in the quarter final followed by a thumping straight sets win over top seed James Smith of England in the Semis. In the final he was up against another Englishman, Ethan Walsh, and like Katie in the U16 Girls, he was eager to avenge his defeat at the hands of the same player from Saturdays Team Final. Again, a tight first set that could have swung either way proved decisive here and fortunately, it went the Belfast boys way 15-13 before he again stepped it up another couple of notches to claim yet another straight sets victory and with it, the 2015 Senior Schools U14 Title.

Congratulations to all players and coaches on what was a successful weekend for this group of young Irish players. 

England’s Liam Pitchford has pulled off two impressive victories back-to-back to ensure that all home nations interest is not lost as this years QOROS World Table Tennis Championships heads towards its climax in Suzhou, China. 

Pitchford overcame a legendary figure of European Table Tennis Kalinikos Kreanga in the Round of 128 in an epic battle which you can view here.

In the next round he stepped up again, this time getting the better of WR Number 20 Tiago Apolonia (POR) by a 4-2 scoreline. He will now face former runner-up Joo Sae Hyuk (KOR) in the Last 32 at 07:00 BST tomorrow morning. For live coverage tune in to http://www.ittf.com/itTV/ .

Elsewhere, Europe’s greatest hope and 5th seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov has crashed out, falling to Lee Sang Su (KOR) 4-3 in the Last 64.  

And meanwhile, Pitchford’s team-mate Paul Drinkhall’s challenge ended at the same stage, as he lost 4-1 against Hong Kong’s Chun Ting Wong (WR 47).