Posts in category: International Events

The Irish Men’s Team of Gavin Maguire and Ashley Robinson have bowed out at the opening stages of the QOROS 2015 World Championships in Suzhou, China following some hard battles over the past two days. Despite the tough draws they were faced with, chances were aplenty, as Maguire in particular put up strong resistance before succumbing to quality opposition from Singapore and North Korea. In his opening match against  PANG Xue Jie of Singapore, the UCD man once led 3-2 before eventually going down in seven gruelling sets. His next match was against North Korean CHOE Il, and despite some flashes of brilliance from the Irish Number 2 player, the Korean was that bit too strong as he ran out a 4-1 winner.

Robinson was also faced with a tough group, and in his opening match he faced HMAM Adem of Tunisia. After taking the Opening game 11-3, it looked as if he could push on towards the winning post but the Tunisian struck back to take three extremely tight games on the spin before eventually sealing the match 4-1, which in truth was perhaps an unfair reflection on just how close an encounter it was. In Ashleys second match, he faced top 200 player ALTO Gaston of Argentina. Despite competing from the start, he could never get the foothold he needed to mount a real challenge as he fell in 4 straight games.

This was another invaluable experience here for the Irish Team, and they will no doubt come back stronger as attention now turns to the Senior European Team Championships in Russia in October.

To stay in touch with all of the latest as the World Championships continue in Suzhou, be sure to keep an eye on the ITTF website for full coverage as all the action unfolds.  

Congratulations to Alan Walsh who won a Silver Medal at the Belgian Junior
Open in the team event at Spa, Belgium.

Here Alan teamed up with two of his training partners from time he spent practicing in Germany – Estonias Alexandr Lusin and Moldova’s Andrei Putintica, making them a truly international line-up. They entered the competitin as the third seeded team in the five team group behind Russia and the home team
Belgium. In a tough opening game against the host nation, the Irish/Estonian/Moldovan combination lost out 1/3 with Alan losing out to Florian
Cnudde. In a titanic struggle in the second match against Russia it went down
to the final game with Alan’s team mate Alexandr Lusin winning 16/14 in the
fifth set.

The third match  was also a close affair but the Belgium/Canada combination
won out 3/1 so it was all down to the final game.The Ireland/Estonia/Moldova
combination had to defeat the Belgium/Luxembourg team 3/0 to secure second
spot and a coveted silver medal. At 2/0 up the pressure was on Alan to secure
the third victory. In a confident and powerful display he outgunned
Luxembourgs Tom Hoffman 3/1 to claim the silver medal. 

Ireland’s Owen Cathcart is going through a purple spell of form this season, and has just added to his growing medal tally with a fine performance at the Malacky Slovakian Open. Following a week long training camp in Slovakia, Cathcart travelled to the tournament with a solid block of hard training and demanding technical work completed. 

In the Team Event, Owen was partnered with a lithuanian player and they performed well, with wins over Norway in the knock-out stages and Owen going undefeated in his singles matches. That was enough to secure a bronze in the team event, narrowly missing out on a place in the Final with a 2:3 loss against Spain where Owen again registered the two wins. 

In the Singles, Owen continued his fine run of form. Having gained confidence from a bronze medal in Hungary earlier this year, this time Cathcart went one better and secured a place in the Final, sailing through his group in style before producing big performances to beat two home based players including the Slovakian Number 1 and a Spanish player – all without dropping a set. In the Final, Cathcart came up against the German Hartstang and had some good chances, but ultimately fell to a 3:1 defeat. However a huge tournament for Owen – medals at European events are never easy to earn and to take home a silver and a bronze from this event is a huge testament to the work he is putting in at club, provincial and National level. 

Coach John Murphy was delighted with the results but perhaps more significantly notes that Owen has taken some major learning points from his experiences in Slovakia – this is a player who has set the bar very high for himself and will look to push on from this achievement. For now, congratulations to Owen and to coach Murphy from all in Table Tennis Ireland.

Owen Cathcart, one of Ireland’s top young talents, played at the Molnar Open in Hungary last week.

On the first day at Molnar International was Under 13 boys event. This was Owen’s targetted event coming to Hungary according to National Coach John Murphy who was working with owen in Hungary. There were over 120 boys entered into to the event. The tournament started in groups of four with top two players advancing to the main draw. Owen advanced through the Group;

Group:
Ballnat ( Hungary ) 3-0
Nanth ( Czech Rep ) 3-0
Villadell ( Sapin ) 1-3

Owen looked sharp early on beating both Ballnat and Nanth comfortably. Villadell who was an awkward pimples style beat Owen 1-3 in a close encounter. Nonetheless, Owen progressed to the Main Draw.

Main Draw
last 64 : Zaboj ( Czech Rep ) 3-0
Last 32: Misera ( Germany ) 3-0
last 16: Wesshagen ( Sweden ) 3-1
Last 8: Ocsai ( Hungary ) 3-0
Last 4: Terek ( Hungary ) 2-3

Bronze Medal Won!!!!

This was another good performance from Owen on the international scene winning a lot of tight matches in a row which shows he has strong character. For coach Murphy,  beating Wesshagen of Sweden in the last 16 was a real highlight as the level of play in the match itself was very high. 

On to the Cadet & Junior events and again Owen recorded some impressive results, progressing to the Main Draw in both events. In particular, Owen was delighted to defeat the Hnungarian No.1 Cadet in a thrilling 5-set encounter. Congratulations to Owen and to coach John Murphy.

John Murphy reports from Budapest…

Irish Squad

Mia Egan,Natasya Barry, Owen Cathcart, Thomas Joyce

Coaching Team – Amy Barry, John Murphy

A young Irish team travelled to Budapest, Hungary over the weekend 9-11 of January. For most of this young squad it was there first time to take part in a European level event. The competition started with boys and girls team event on the Friday with singles Saturday and Sunday.

Team Event

The girls were placed in a tough group with Hungary and Bulgaria. Both Mia and Natasya performed well against Hungary although losing 0-3 they both showed signs that they could compete with the strong table tennis nations.

Against Bulgaria the girls stepped up again to plate with a good performance unfortunately losing 1-3 this time, with Mia picking up a very impressive singles win. This left the girls competing in the consolation event. This was where the girls really showed great potential for the future. Having been given a bye in the first round the girls recorded impressive wins; 3-1 over Hungary and 3-2 over Sweden to set up a final encounter against Germany. At this stage the girls were tired but they put up a good fight against a strong German team, in the end they lost out 0-3.

The Boys were placed in a tough group with Sweden, Germany and Hungary. First match against Hungary the boys won 3-1 with 2 wins from Owen and a doubles win. This happened again in the second match against Germany which set up a group decider against Sweden – unfortunately the boys lost out in a close match 2-3 with Owen winning 1 single and again the boys proving there worth winning the doubles. With the top 2 teams going through to the main draw, all was not lost.

They quickly regrouped and beat Romania in the last 32 with the usual scoreline 3-1; again Owen winning 2 and combining with Thomas to take the doubles. In the last 16 the boys faced a strong German team and although giving it a real go they lost out this time 1-3. Losing there first doubles in this match was a crucial moment. Still a very good performance from the boys especially as Thomas is only 2004 so playing two years over his age – huge potential for this team.

Singles

Mia O’Rahilly Egan

Played in the 2002 singles. Placed in a group of 3, Mia lost her first match 3-1 against a Slovak girl but won her second match 3-0 against a Hungarian. With the Hungarian beating the Slovak in the other it meant that Mia won her group on count back. The reward was a place in the main draw. In the last 32 Mia lost 3-0 to Phan of Hungary but had good chances in the first two sets. Good performance from Mia in her first international event.

Natasya Barry

Played in the 2002 singles. Placed in a group of 3, Natasya lost out 3-0 against a strong Slovak girl in the first match. Second match playing against a Hungarian girl Natasya was down 0-2 before fighting back to lead 9-7 in the 5th but unfortunately lost out 11-9. In the consolation Natasya lost again the one of the many strong Slovak girls 3-0. The tournament was a good experience for Natasya who has another year at this level.

Owen Cathcart

Playing in the 2002 boys singles, Owen who is very experienced at this level was in a group of 4 and he showed his talent, beating a Swede 3-1, Hungarian 3-1 and Bulgarian 3-0 to top the group.

In the main draw Owen progressed to the last 8 with impressive wins over Malakhhau of Belarus 3-0 and Hammerfeldt of Sweden 3-0. In the last 8 he faced the German, Rinderer. The level of the match itself was very and high although Owen lost out 1-3 he was right in there with a chance. It has to be mentioned that the German went on the win the title. Good performance from Owen in every aspect over the 3 days. 

Thomas Joyce

Playing in the 2004 singles, Thomas won his group with a 3-1 win over a Hungarian and a 3-0 win over a Czech player. In the main draw, Thomas had a bye in the last 32. In the last 16 he faced Drenea of Romania. In a very close match Thomas lost out 1-3. This event will have been a great experience for Thomas who is so young.

On a whole the overall results were very good. As the coach on duty I was very impressed with how professional these young players conducted themselves at the tournament. If they learned something from the event its to continue to practice as much as they can at home to hopefully make these results even better in the future.

European Team Championships 2014, Lisbon

Ireland will be represented by a Mens team at this years event, which will take place in Lisbon from 24th to 28th September.

Congratulations to the following players who have been selected for our Mens team :

John Murphy (Captain)

Ashley Robinson

Gavin Maguire

Further details on the event can be found at http://www.2014eurotabletennis.com/en/#