Northern Ireland will be represented in table tennis at the Commonwealth Games by Na Liu, Amanda Mogey, Claire Nelson, Ashley Givan and Paul McCreery. Best wishes to all players.
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/table_tennis/8977799.stm for TV preview and here for TT Ulster Press Release.
Participating countries included Brazil, Austria, Finland, Spain, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Ireland.
Ireland sent a strong team to compete at this prestigious event. Dublin was represented by Team Coach, Kathleen Reynolds, players Eimear Breathnach and Phillip Quinlan, and representing the west, Ronan Rooney and Rena McCarron Rooney.
Ireland’s ladies team, Eimear Breathnach and Rena McCarron Rooney had a very successful tournament. They secured silver in the Doubles Event and also won the bronze in the Team Event which was run Davis Cup style.
In the singles event, Eimear who has been on the sidelines for the last year, signalled her intent with a great comeback to international competition, lost the bronze place play off to Poland’s Buclaw, having defeated France’s world ranked no 7, Florence Gossiaux along the way.
In her singles, McCarron Rooney was narrowly defeated in the 5th set by Italy’s Pamala Pezzutto, world ranked no 1.
The men’s events were equally exciting. Quinlan fought his way to the last 8 defeating Hungary’s Janos Kaiser world ranked 11 along the way. He was cruelly defeated in deuce in 5th set by Finland’s Launonen, ranked no 8 in the world.
Rooney had a satisfying victory over Iceland’s Kristjansson who will be competing at the world championships in Korea later in the year, and Rooney was narrowly beaten by France’s Molliens, the eventual gold medallist.
Irlenad’s men’s team also had impressive wins in the team and doubles events.
Ireland’s coach and team manager for the tournament, Kathleen Reynolds said “she hasn’t seen the team play so well in a long time”.
This performance certainly augers well for the future.
Following some extremely difficult games in Group H at the European Senior Championships, the Irish Women’s Team claimed a hard fought victory over Finland in a thrilling encounter last night. Ireland had struggled against the higher ranked teams, suffering losses against Bulgaria, Denmark and Serbia.
Victories are not easily obtained at this level – having worked extremely hard to gain a 2 nil lead Ireland had to battle for every point to come out with an exciting 3-2 victory over the Finns. Claire Nelson took the first match in the fifth against ERIKSSON(a player with medium pimples on one side and short on the other!). Amanda Mogey then dispatched Finnish No 1 PUNNONEN with a comfortable 3-0 victory. The Finns clawed two games back, leaving Claire Nelson to face PUNNONEN for the match. Nelson took a 2:0 lead, but the Finn was dogged and produced a fine topspin performance to bring it to a deciding set. Nelson fell behind 4-6 but dug deep and after some long exciting rallies ran out the winner 11-9 to seal the first victory in what was a very tough group. Ireland now await the draw for the play-off matches which decide finishing positions.
The below teams have been selected to represent Ulster at the UK Schools Games which commence today in the North East of England. Congratulations and best wishes to all selected…
Boys
Ashley Robinson
Stephen Slater
Darren Reilly
Neil Irwin
NPC Brian Orr
Girls
Ashley Givan
Roisin O’Reilly
Annalise walker
Emma Ludlow
NPC Amanda Mogey
This weekend (28th/29th August) sees the end of the off-season and the start of another action packed domestic season of table tennis. The traditional curtain-raiser to the season – the Irish Senior Classification is also a crucial event in terms of establishing ranking position – results can have a massive effect on how each player’s season plays out. Following from last year’s trend, entries have again soared this year, with 123 players registered for the event.
The ITTA Events Committee has made the draw for the event. Play begins in UCD Sports Centre, Dublin on Saturday 28th August 2010 at 9.30am sharp. Entrance to UCD Sports Hall from 8.30am-10am is in the back entrance by the hockey pitch. The Event Finals on Sunday will be played in DCU Sports Arena, Glasnevin, again commencing at 9.30am sharp.
As always, the Qualifying Event can be notoriously unpredictable – this year’s Men’s event has 88 players battling for just 4 qualifying spots. Corey O’Rourke of St.John’s and Galway’s Robbie Gavin appear to be the early favourites, although there are lots of dark horses sprinkled throughout the draw, from the experienced Brian Devereux, Dave Pemberton and Anthony Redmond, to top Junior players such as Kevin O’Keefe, Stephen Slater and Shi Zhao Li. Maciek Syzmanski, who featured recently at the Senior Schools International, will also be one to watch.
In the Women’s event, again it’s wide open. Sabina Devereux is the favourite to progress, but with only two spots available the pressure is really on. Jean Wyse and Teresa Devanney are well versed in these competitions and there will be some exciting match-ups against emerging talents such as Katie and Elayna McGlone.
Final Event – Men
Drawn in Group A, much focus will be on the form of National Number 1 Paul McCreery. He is drawn against Junior internationals Sam Logue and Ashley Robinson, 2009 National Champion Gavin Maguire, international team-mate Keith Knox and Eastpoint’s Mark O’Flynn. There can be no doubt that McCreery is the favourite to win this completion and improve on his 2nd place finish last season. However, this is a tough group, which will be rounded out by the 1st and 4th Qualifiers from Saturday’s event.
In Group B, John Murphy, 3 times National Senior Champion will also be looking to get his domestic campaign off to a flying start. He faces last year’s beaten semi-finalist Conor Nolan, Daniel Keenan, Peter Graham and Munster youngster Declan O’Brien. Ryan Flood will look to put up a challenge as will 2 qualifiers from Saturday’s event.
Both groups should see some spectacular matches and will represent a real test of how well the players have trained during the Summer break.
Final Event – Women
The Final event of the Women’s Classification will see the 6 automatic qualifiers joined by the 2 best Saturday players. Everybody in the Irish table tennis community will be delighted to see the return of Amanda Mogey and Claire Nelson to tournament play after both suffered lengthy injury lay-offs last season. In their absence, Ashley Givan dominated, taking the Women’s Senior National title and finishing as top ranked Cadet, Junior and Senior player in the country. They willbe joined by Rita Kacsandi, last year’s Classification winner and Connacht’s ever-improving Junior international Sarah Timlin.
Click here for Qualifying Draw.
With thanks to Tournament Referee Tony Martin and the ITTA Events Committee for providing this information.
Following some impressive performances, Paul McCreery’s European Youth Championships finally came to an end against Jonathan Groth of Denmark in the Round of 32. It was yet another impressive performance from McCreery following a breakthrough season from the Ulster player. Unfortunately, Groth was in top form on the day and took a 4:1 win to progress to play the top seed and eventual champion Patrick Franziska of Germany. In the consolation event, Sam Logue recorded some good wins over Austrian and Slovenian opponents before being eliminated in the last 32.
Paul McCreery played a thrilling match at this morning’s European Youths. This Round of 64 match against Croatian Luka Fucec was always going to be a test for the Ulster Junior, and his hopes of progressing looked slim as Fucec, in commanding form, moved into a 3:1 lead. McCreery did not let his head drop though as he valiantly fought back to take the next two sets and set up a 7th set decider. As always, the final set is a test of nerve, poise and character – qualities the Irish Number One has displayed in abundance over the past 12 months. He did not disappoint, recording a 11:6 victory to take the match and progress to the Round of 32.
McCreery is back in action at 4pm today, taking on Jonathan Groth of Denmark. As always at these events, it doesn’t get easier as you progress and Groth is a formidable opponent. Ranked 15 in the European Junior rankings, Groth has been is fantastic form in Istanbul, breezing through his Second Round match 4:0 over Ronneborg of Norway. Check back here for results update this afternoon.
Best of luck Paul!
At the European Youth Championships this morning, Ireland’s No.1 Ranked Junior and Senior player Paul McCreery progressed to the last 64 with a 4 : 0 (8 5 11 5)victory over Petr Handl of the Czech Republic. McCreery will be delighted to have set up a 2nd round encounter with Luka Fucec of Croatia. Fucec is a dangerous player, ranked just below McCreery in the European Rankings. Fucec recently qualified for the Youth Olympic Games and has already won a Silver medal in the Junior Boys Team event as part of the Croatian National Team. Fucecd has never faced Irish opposition before, and tomorrow is sure to be a stern test of his credentials.
In yesterday’s evening Singles, Ashley Robinson had a tough Austrian opponent Christian Wolf and after two close sets at the start of the match he found himself 2-0 down 11-9 on both occasions . His opponent got stronger after that and eased his way to a 4-0 victory. Sam Logue was next in action against the Cypriot Number One Nikola PANAGIOTOU and he again lost the first set close but recoved to level the match at 1-1. His opponent then took control of the game playing aggressively and although the sets were close 11-7 in all of them, Sam struggled to get the initative in the game.
In the Mixed doubles McCreery and Givan record their first victory of the day of the day over a pair from Georgia/Armenia and then lost out 3-1 to a Polish duo. Robinson and O’Reilly lost in Round One to a Bosnian pair.
The only boys doubles match was Sam Logue and his Finnish partner, Pauli HIETIKKO played a pair from Kosovo and they won 3-0 for the right to play a Hungarian pair today.
In the Cadet Girls event, today’s 2nd Round sees Ashley Givan face Valerie Tischler of Austria, while Edel O’Reilly will play Ajila Kovac of Bosnia. Both girls will be hopeful of progressing to the 3rd Round.
The Irish team in Istanbul at the European Youth Championships swing into action today in the individual events starting with the Junior Mixed Doubles at 14.30 with Paul McCreery and Ashley Givan taking on an Armenian / Georgian pairing and Ashley Robinson and Edel O’Reilly playing two Bosnians. It was an early start for the players with a 9am breakfast call to get some much needed doubles practice as neither pairing has ever played together before! Lack of mixed doubles tournaments in Ireland mean that this will be their first outings together and couple of hours practice is required in the morning! In years gone by Wednesday was traditionally the free day when the young players got to see something of the place they were competing in and I am sure it would be very culturally and educationally interesting to see the historic Gateway to Asia but unfortunately that is all a thing of the past now as not only are the mixed doubles parings in action but the Junior Boys Sam Logue and Ashley Robinson are in action in the singles from 17.00.
The draw for the Singles is as follows:
Junior Boys
2nd Round McCreery v Efstathiou(Cyprus)/Handl(Czech Rep)
1st Round Logue v PANAGIOTOU(CYP)
1st Round Robinson v Wolf(Austria)
Logue and Robinson are first into action in Round 1 this evening. Logue faces PANAGIOTOU, who in the Team event defeated Ashley Robinson. PANAGIOTOU is Ranked 354 in Europe, with Logue at 325. This will be a tough match for the ALSAA player, but he will hope to draw on his recent experiences at the Spanish Open and ITTF Training camp to progress. Robinson faces the Austrian Wolf, which on the surface looks to be a difficult draw. Wolf is ranked 128 in Europe and Robinson will have to produce his best performance of the tournament to progress. McCreery progresses automatically to the 2nd Round due to his ranking of 38 in Europe. Both of his potential opponents are unranked and he will hope to secure a victory that would lead to a 3rd round clash with Fucec of Croatia.
Cadet Girls
2nd Round Givan v TISCHLER(Austria)/HAMZAYEVA(Azerbaijan)
1st Round O’Reilly v HALITI(Kosovo)
The Irish Girls face unranked opponents in the Singles. Haliti from Kosovo is a known quantity for Edel O’Reilly and coach Amanda Mogey, as in the Team event Ashley Givan recorded a 3:1 victory over the Kosovan. O’Reilly would be delighted with a similar result to progress to the next round. Givan will also be hopeful of progressing – Azerbaijan finished in bottom position in the group and Tischler of Austria has struggled for a win in the Team event.
Team Event Results
Junior Boys – Following a disappointing finish in their first group, the Boys team rallied in their 2nd group, with wins over Kosovo and Cyprus. McCreery took his two matches against the Swiss, but that wasn’t enough as the Irish suffered a 3:2 defeat. In to the final positional play-offs, Ireland defeated Macedonia 3:1, with McCreery recording another 2 wins and Robinson finishing the match off. The last match was against the Ukraine, where Ireland fell to a 3:1 defeat, McCreery taking the sole win. This left Ireland in 34th position from an entry of 40 teams.
Cadet Girls – The Cadet Girls had a succesful event at their first European Championships, with Edel O’Reilly scoring a notable win against Israel’s Nicole Trossman(European No.22). In their 2nd group, they recorded 3 wins out of 3, defeating Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria. Both players were in top form, with two 3:0’s and a 3:1 victory. In the final play-offs they faced Switzerland and Ukraine. Against the Swiss, the Girls took the crucial Doubles and O’Reilly was again in top form, taking the two singles victories against Schemp and Gonzales, 3:0 in both. This set up a rematch with the Ukraine, over whom the Irish recorded a victory earlier in the event. This was not to go the way of the Irish – O’Reilly recorded a single victory, but the match finished 3:1 to the Ukraine, leaving Ireland in 31st position from 37 entries.
In her first European Championships, Edel O’Reilly recorded a sensational win over Israel’s Nicole Trosman in the Irish Cadet Girls match against Israel this evening. Trosman is a seeded player in the Singles event here and is ranked 22 in the European Cadet rankings. To put her achievement into context, O’Reilly from Ballincollig TTC has no current European ranking points and does not appear on the ranking list. She will be thrilled with this victory, despite the fact that Israel fought back to take the match 3:1. The match itself was an intriguing affair, with O’Reilly racing into a 2 sets to love lead before Trosman fought back to set up a final decider. O’Reilly held her nerve to close out the match in the 5th and record what is easily the best result of her career to date.
