The TT players from England followed their rugby counterparts in securing top spot at the Junior and Cadet Six Nations Championship in UL Sports Centre, Limerick over the weekend.
Taking 2 gold, in the Cadet Boys and Junior Girls, and a silver in the Cadet Girls, the English proved too strong against their international opposition in the key matches. Ireland, having secured a record four golds in the team event at last years Senior Schools International in the same venue, had to settle for a silver in the Junior Boys and two bronze in the two Girls events.
In the singles, England took a further 2 golds, Gray, & Weerasinghe, while Carey of Wales and Loveridge of Guernsey took gold in the girls event. Ulster players Ashley Given & Ashley Robinson were best of the Irish as beaten semi-finalists, claiming bronze medals.
The ITTA would like to thank its outstanding team of volunteers who played a massive role in delivering a top quality international tournament – Tony Martin and Con O’Ceadaigh our Referees, ITTUA Umpires, Shay Logue, Liam O’Ceallaigh and Anna Kelly. Thanks also to our NPCs and to all of the staff at University of Limerick and the various hotels utilised over the weekend.
Congratulations to the Irish Junior Girls squad who last weekend clinched the Division One title of the Junior British League to secure promotion to the top flight for Season 2011/12. Over the two weekends of play, the team claimed the title with an undefeated record, recording 9 wins and a solitary draw. This draw came in Weekend 1 against Bridge Club and the girls were primed to ensure that they would claim a win in the return meet. In the deciding encounter, the Girls recorded a 4:2 victory over Bridge, with Edel O’Reilly providing a key win, reversing her previous defeat to Victoria Smith over a fantastic 5 set encounter. The individual averages tell their own story, with the Irish team of Ashley Givan, Edel O’Reilly and Sarah Timlin providing 3 of the top 5 players. Coach Phyllis Kenny was delighted with the Division One title, stating;
“They were a fantastic team to coach..if you look at the results you will see the wins that they had were not that easy but they never gave up and gave 100% each time. On the first weekend they drew with Bridge Club (which was the only match that they drew over the two weekends) but the second weekend they were ready for them and with a quality performance from all players they got the win they wanted.”
In the Boys Premier Division, Sam Logue, Declan O’Brien and Ashley Robinson had a difficult weekend. Obviously the Boys had the mantle of Premier Division Champions from 2009/2010 and were there to be shot at by the English teams. Robinsons showed his class with a 75% win ratio to be the best performing Irish player. However, the Irish will look at the positives with a 4th place finish ensuring Premier Division status for next season.
Both squads and coaches will now begin planning their Premier Division campaigns in Season 2011/12.
A six-strong Irish team of cadets travel to Grantham, England this weekend to compete in the Bribar East Midlands Junior 4* event. Under the supervision of NPCs Louise Long, Marcus McDonnell and National Technical Director John O’Donoghue, the squads are as follows:
Boys
Ryan Farrell
Conor Mullally
Kevin Hutchinson
Girls
Katie McGlone
Emma Ludlow
Hannah Lynch Dawson
Best of luck to all players over the course of the weekend, check back here on Monday for results…
Irish Junior and Senior International player, Paul McCreery, has qualified to play in this week’s ITTF World Under 18 Singles Championships 2010 in Bratislava, Slovakia. This is the first time an Irish player has qualified to compete in this prestigious event.
The Volkswagen sponsored Championships begin on Tuesday 7th December and invitations have been restricted to the top 96 junior players in the World. In addition to the World Singles event Paul has also been invited to play in the Mixed Doubles event.
“We are delighted that Paul has been invited o play in this elite level competition. This is a first for Irish table tennis,” said ITTA Technical Director, John O’Donoghue “I know that it was one of Paul’s big ambitions to play in this event and I am delighted that he has achieved this goal. He works hard at the game and is fully deserving of his success.”
Paul, who is sponsored by Butterfly, plays for Montpellier in the French League. He jets off to Bratislava today, Monday 6th December with coach, Andrew Dennison where he will be playing against the world’s best juniors in this high quality competition. We all wish him every success at the event.
McCreery has been drawn in the first round group with Hie Chung Chiu of Hong Kong and Boris Mihailovic of Serbia.
Over the past week, Irish Senior Internationals Gavin Maguire and John Murphy have been representing Ireland at the Finland Open. Following a good win over a young Russia side in the Team event, the players were on top form going into the Singles event. The competition format with progressive knock-ous ensures lots of top quality matches. John Murphy finished in 54th place, following 2 wins over Bucys of Lithuania and Vanucci of San Marino
Gavin Maguire of Eastpoint TTC finished in 91st place, also recording two victories over Lundstrom of Finland and a fantastic 4:3(Deuce in the last) win over Siispool of Estonia.
ITTUA Umpires Joe Finnegan and Kiron Choudhury have been selected to Umpire at the ITTF English Open in January 2011, followed by the Special Olympics World Games in the Summer. This is fantastic news for the two Umpires and highlights the opportunities available in this area of our sport. Commenting on the appointments, ITTA Secretary Ken Strong stated:
“I am pleased to congratulate Kiron and Joe on these two very important appointments. It is indeed an honour for the ITTUA to have two of its members selected to officiate at two of the highest profile events in the ITTF Calendar. We wish them both every success at the events.”
A squad of 7 Irish players travel to Stockton this weekend for the Stockton 4 Star event. This is a great opportunity for some of our young talents to compete at international level and we wish the squad all the best.
Boys
Ryan Farrell
Jonathan Porter
Kevin Hutchinson
Conor Mullally
Girls
Katie McGlone
Elayna McGlone
Hannah Lynch-Dawson
Congratulations to all selected and in particular to debutants Conor Mullally and Hannah Lynch-Dawson.
The Irish Senior Squad travelled to the Isle of Man over the past weekend to take part in the Senior Six Nations Championships. Good results are important for the Irish players as well as for the country as this prestigious tournament carries World Ranking points. Paul McCreery and John Murphy formed the Men’s Team with Peter Nilsson coach. Amanda Mogey and Claire Nelson represented the Women’s team with Arthur Brett as NPC.
Following a disappointing 4th place finish in the 2009 event in Dublin, the Men were keen to register at least a medal performance in the Team event and they did not disappoint. They got off to a flying start, with 3-0 victories over Wales and Isle of Man on Friday night. England were next up, with the highly world ranked Darius Knight and Chris Doran looking formidable. While the Irish lost 3-0 here, the highlight was the spirited effort by McCreery in bringing Knight, ranked 358 place above him in the ITTF World Rankings, to a final set decider. Ireland then defeated Guernsey 3-0, John Murphy battling to a five set victory over Gary Dodds, the Guernsey Number One. The final match was to decide 2nd place against Scotland. This was a thrilling match, with McCreery taking two wins and Murphy with the other. McCreery’s performance in a titanic struggle against Scotland’s Craig Howieson showed off the Ulster man’s full array of skills. Ireland thus claimed 2nd place in the Team event and Silver Medals.
Mogey and Nelson came in to this event full of confidence following their performances at both the Senior European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. They recorded impressive wins against Wales, Scotland, Guernsey and the host nation. Key results included Mogey’s win over Alice Loveridge, who went on to win the Ladies Singles in the Individual Event. The Irish Women also claimed Silvers in the Team event, which meant that the team took the overall Silver Medals for the combined Team Event.
The Irish medal haul was not yet complete, with McCreery winning a bronze in the Individual Men’s Singles Event, losing out to Darius Knight in 4 close sets in the Semi-Final. Claire Nelson also scored a bronze, losing to eventual winner Alice Loveridge in the Women’s Singles Semi-Final. Mogey did not progress from a very tough group which included 2 good English and Welsh players, while Murphy made it to the last 8 before succumbing to Howieson of Scotland in a thrilling 5 setter.
Overall, this was an excellent performance from what is still a very young Irish team squad and their coaches in bringing home 3 Silver Medals and 2 Bronze Medals.
3 members of Irish Vets played in the Turkey Veterans Invitation Tournament last week and all returned with medals. There was a strong entry, with players from England, Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, Greece and Turkey. Teresa Devaney was outstanding, winning gold in the over 50’s singles and, playing with Helen Shields (England) won the open Ladies Doubles. Audrey Robinson won gold in the over 60’s singles, and Vivienne Barry took bronze in this event. Veteran tournaments are very social and a great way of making new friends.
A four-strong team of Irish cadets travel to Liverpool this weekend for the Liverpool 4 Star tournament.
The team, led by John O’Donoghue and Louise Long will compete in both the Junior and Cadet events over the course of the weekend. For Farrell and Slattery, this tournament comes on the back of domestic victories in the Junior Classification. Ludlow was a beaten finalist and Hutchinson a beaten semi-finalist in the same competition, so all players will be brimming with confidence on their first international outing of the season.
Cadet Boys : Ryan Farrell, Kevin Hutchinson – NPC John O’Donoghue Cadet Girls : Meadhbh Slattery, Emma Ludlow – NPC Louise Long.
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