Posts in category: International Events

As the domestic season came to a close with the Senior and Junior Interprovincials, many players will have put their bat away and turned thoughts to a break away after a demanding season. For Ireland’s elite players however, the demands of the 12 month season could not be more apparent as we move towards a busy Summer for the international squads.

As of today, 3 Irish High Performance squads are abroad representing their country, while at home Junior and Cadet players will have their sights set on a possible call up to the European Youths in Turkey in late July.

Starting at the youngest age group, cadets Ryan McConkey and Katie McGlone have had a fantastic week training with some of Europe’s top young talents and under the guidance of leading European coaches, which will surely reap massive benefits for their game. They were fortunate enough to be selected for the ETTU’s ‘Eurokids’ programme, which was held in Italy this week. Following 2 days of intense training, both players played the Eurokids tournament today. McGlone had some good wins, with a particularly good win over the intriguingly named Liz Lethal of Luxembourg. Her group was particularly challenging and she was unfortunate not to progress after a count back. McConkey was also eliminated at the group stage, but also had a good win against Malta’s Dylan Zammit. Both players enter the 13+ play-offs; however the results at this level are not so important – it is the experience of playing in Europe under the tutelage of some of the game’s finest tactical and technical brains that will be of most benefit. Coach Louise Long has also been working with the top coaches at Lingano and is sure to have developed as a coach from the experience

Moving from Italy to Belgium, six players from Ireland are currently en route to play in the 3 day International Youth Cup in Belgium. This 3 day team and individual event sees teams from all across Europe travel to Hasselt TTC and it is sure to be a fantastic experience for these top young players. Best wishes to all, particularly those making their first appearance representing their country. Top cadet and National Cadet Champion Ryan Farrell will look to make an impression on his first foray to a competition of this nature, while Alan Walsh will be making his international debut – a proud moment for the player, his parents and Ballincollig TTC.

Full Hasselt Squad

Ryan Farrell, Kevin Hutchinson, Neil Irwin, Jonathan Porter, Eric Sheckleton, Alan Walsh.

Finally, at the very elite of the game, the entire Irish table tennis community will be hoping for a positive Irish performance at the World Team Championships in Russia. National Senior Champion John Murphy has been in camp in Sweden for 2 weeks training for this event, and he will be joined by 17 year old Paul McCreery, who has soared up both the National (finishing the season as No.1 in Ireland) and World (up to 760 in the World, a jump of 250 places in just 12 months) Ranking over the past season. The squad is completed by the experienced Daryl Strong of Ulster and Keith Knox, who has made a remarkable comeback from injury over the past year, recording an impressive semi-final performance at the Butterfly National Seniors. 

First up on 23rd May is top seed Indonesia, with the last match in their group on May 26th also a tough one with Ju Lin’s Dominican Republic team sure to present a stern test of Ireland’s promotion prospects. In between, Ireland, coached by Peter Nilsson, face Moldova, Ecuador and Algeria.

So for our top players, there is no let-up as the demands on the international player continues to grow. ITTAWeb wishes all of the players representing their country over the next week the very best of luck.

A large Irish squad of 6 has been selected to travel to Hasselt, Belgium for this weekend’s International Youth Cup. This 3 day team and individual event sees teams from all across Europe travel to Hasselt TTC and it is sure to be a fantastic experience for these top young players. Best wishes to all, particularly those making their first appearance representing their country.

Full Squad

Ryan Farrell

Kevin Hutchinson

Neil Irwin

Jonathan Porter

Eric Sheckleton

Alan Walsh

Irish table tennis sensation Paul McCreery produced the performance of his career to date at the ITTF World Junior Circuit event in Barcelona, culminating in a top 8 finish in this world standard event on Saturday. Breaking away from exam preparation to join up with Junior international team-mates Sam Logue and Declan O’Brien, McCreery was straight into his stride with some good wins in the Team event. It was in the Singles where his tournament really took off, with some incredible performances to make the quarter-finals.

McCreery was drawn in the Group Stage against Dorian Nicolle of France and Lewis Gray of England. McCreery caused a surprise by defeating Nicolle in straight sets, before claiming the group win with a 3-1 victory over England international Gray.

This put McCreery through to the last 64 against Otsuka of Japan. Otsuka has a similar World Ranking to McCreery, but it looked like the talented Dundoland youngster had too much class as he raced into a 3-0 lead. Otsuka pulled two games back, but McCreery showed good maturity to close out the match on a scroeline of 4-2.  In the last 32, he faced Tristan Flore, another French player. This was a classic ding-dong battle, with the players exchanging sets until the score reached 3-3 to set up a final set decider. Flore, ranked 52 in the World Junior Rankings and over 200 places above McCreery in the Senior rankings would have been expecting to progress here. However, McCreery again showed supreme battling qualities and some wonderful play to take the final set 11-8 and progress to the last 16.

This was very much unchartered waters for McCreery at this level of international competition. Facing Sweden’s Jesper Hedlund however, he looked comfortable and doled out a straight sets defeat – 13-11,11-9,13-11,11-7 to reach the Quarter-Final. Here he faced top seed and eventual runner-up Patrick Franziska of Germany. Franziska is ranked 175 in the World Senior rankings and he had too much for McCreery, winning 4-0. McCreery will be delighted to have reached the latter stages of a world-class international competition – many of the players in the Spanish Open were using the event as preparation for the Youth Olympic Games and are of World class standard. It also sets McCreery up for an assault on the European Youth Championships in Turkey later this Summer.

Speaking about McCreery’s performance, ITTA Technical Director John O’Donoghue was delighted:

“This was an outstanding result for Paul. He beat some top quality players on his way to the quarter finals and he is the first Irish player to reach this stage of an ITTF Junior Circuit event. He has certainly had a superb season. He fully deserves all the success he gets as he works really hard and his commitment and dedication is second to none”

Congratulations to Paul, to coach Marcus McDonnell and to Sam Logue and Declan O’Brien who also had some good results and will have benefitted greatly from playing against players of this calibre.

Following yesterday’s draw, Ireland’s Men will face a battle to progress to the knock-out stages of Division Three  in the Liebherr World Team Championships to be held in the Russian capital city of Moscow from Sunday 23rd to Sunday 30th May 2010. Ireland have been drawn in Group I of Division Three, where they will face:

Group I

Indonesia

Algeria

Ireland

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Moldova

Ireland will be represented at the Worlds by Butterfly National Senior Champion John Murphy, Paul McCreery(buoyed by a massive jump of 110 places in the April ITTF World Rankings to 818), Daryl Strong and Keith Knox, with Peter Nilsson coaching the team. With three teams to progress to the knock-out stages to play for places 1-12 and possible promotion, ITTA Technical Director John O’Donoghue stated:

 “This is a tough draw with top seeds Indonesia in the group but we will be competitive and with some good performances we can progress to the knock out stages”

Opposition Preview

INDONESIA – seeded 49 (top seed in Division 3)

Top Players

Santoso – 538

Maulana – 540

ALGERIA – Seeded 56

Top Players

Ouramouhne – 437

Boudjadja – 433

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Seeded 57

Top Players

*Lin – 69

Batista – 509

Santos – 587

ECUADOR – Seeded 65

Top Players

Mino -345

Coello – 523

*Player Spotlight – Ju Lin(Dominican Republic) – pic courtesy of ITTF

Lin is the danger player in this group, with a World Ranking of 69 and experience of playing at the highest level – the Olympic Games(Athens 2004). He is  another example of the modern day defender; originally from China but now representing the Dominican Republic, he returns the ball with varying degrees of backspin but when the opportunity arises he will attack with the forehand and is clearly at home in topspin exchanges. In many ways he is similar to the former Chinese internationals, CHEN Xinhua and DING Song, both were masters of defence and forehand topspin attacking strokes and both, like LIN Ju, had a range of services that would either bring instant success, or enable them to conclude the point on their next stroke with a strong attacking forehand topspin. The Irish players will have to be at their very best to record a win against this highly regarded player.

The Coláiste Choilm team, Ballincollig Co. Cork, represented Ireland from the 23^rd of March 2010 to 31^st March 2010 in Brno, Czech Republic. The team consisted of Declan O’ Brien, Alex Cooney, Eoin Murphy and Ben Aherne. After putting up a great display they finished 11^th overall in the Championships.

Day One

The first match was against Malta. After a thrilling close encounter with the match level at 3-3 it was down to Declan O’ Brien against the Maltese number 2. Fortunately Declan prevailed as the winner with a confident 3-0 score line. This gave the boys confidence going into tough opposition against Poland. Despite a valiant effort by the boys the more experienced Polish Team prevailed.

Day Two

After a disappointing loss against the Polish team the boys found it difficult to find their form and lost to Slovakia in the morning session. Confidence was low in the Irish camp however Coach Ivan Shorten had a pep talk with the boys and they came out a different team. In the afternoon session they faced England who were in the same position as Ireland, fighting for 3^rd place in the group. With heroic performances from Alex Cooney and Declan O’ Brien who both won their singles matches and also their doubles gave Ireland a 5-2 victory over our nearest rivals. This was an excellent result and gave Ireland 3^rd position in the group.

“I am very pleased with finishing 3rd in a very tough and talented group. The team all played very well throughout the group showing great character after the disappointment of the Slovakia and Poland matches to eventually beat England which is always a sweet victory to claim!!!” said Declan O’ Brien.

Day Three

In the morning session the Team had a very comfortable 4-0 victory over the Italians which set up a match with the highly regarded German team. Unfortunately the Germans proved to be the better team eventually winning 4-0. Despite this result some of the matches were very close with the doubles going to 5 sets, losing 12-10 in the fifth. This left the Boys with an 11^th overall position in the championships.

Day Four

After the team events coming to a close with China winning all team events the boys had a rest day in which to embrace the culture and scenery of Brno.

Day Five

This was the singles day. However the boys were unsuccessful in some very close contested matches. As per usual the Chinese proved to be world class gaining number one position in all events.

 “Overall I thought it was an unforgettable experience which will hopefully prove beneficial for my final year as a junior next season” – Alex Cooney

 “This was my first experience representing Ireland at international level and I was pleased with finishing 11^th overall” – Ben Aherne

 “It was an amazing and invaluable experience especially both playing and watching some of the best players in the world” – Eoin Murphy

 “Having won 9 of 14 matches I was extremely pleased with my performance” – Declan O’ Brien

 Well done to all the lads and travelling party which included Ivan Shorten (Coach), Ellen O’ Brien (Head of Delegation) and Tom Mitchell (Umpire).

A great performance by Ireland’s Cadet Girls at the Cheltenham Select saw Ashley Givan add the Cheltenham Select title to her Cadet Six Nations and Senior Nationals medal haul. Team-mate Edel OReilly was also in top form and progressed to the Final before Givan pipped her to the title. Both girls lost in the quarter finals of the Juniors in close matches.

In the Cadet Boys, Ryan Farrell and Neil Irwin both played well in the Cadets and Juniors, despite facing tough draws. Despite weinning their Cadet groups, Farrel was eliminated by eventual runner-up Jared Patel in the knock-out stages, with Irwin also losing out at this stage. Farrell progressed to the last 16 of the Junior Banded where he lost 11-8 in the fifth to the number 3 seed Adam Nutland.

Ireland’s STIGA sponsored Primary School Girls produced some fantastic performances to claim Team silver medals at the Primary Schools International hosted in Guernsey from the 9th-11th April. The Girls produced a blistering start defeating Wales 8-2 and Scotland 9-1 on the first day of play. Coach Louise Long and team of Katie and Elayna McGlone, Laura Finn and Sarah Cooney then faced into a battle against England, with the winners favourites to claim gold. Ireland were unlucky to lose 6-4, with the two matches dropped in the Doubles proving their downfall. Sarah Cooney recorded an impressive 2 wins against the English girls, with the critical doubles match going to 12-10 in the 5th set – Ireland went on to claim an impressive silver, but as always in sport will look to go one step further in 2011 – they were not far off defeating the highly rated English girls. In the Singles, all 4 girls progressed through their groups to the last 16. Laura Finn lost to England’s Abigail Griffith at this stage, while Katie McGlone and Cooney were unlucky to be drawn against each other – Katie joined sister Elayna in the last 8 following a 3-1 victory. At the qurter final stage of the event, tensions were high and in a classic encounter, Katie was defeated 3-2 by Welsh girl Laura Edwards. Elayna was defeated by Letitia McWilliams to end the Irish involvement in the competition.

The Primary Schools Boys had a tougher weekend, losing to both Scotland, Wales and Englan in the Team event to finish 4th. Coach Shay Logue and team of Mark Gordon, Ryan McConkey, James O’Reilly and Jonathan Porter had to regroup for the next day’s singles. Porter was in exceptional form and progressed through the group stages, progressing then to the quarter finals in straight sets over Scotland’s Jason Fleming. There he ran into the seriously talented Hugo Pang of England who just had too much for Porter on this occasion. Pang showed his class by going on to claim the title over Christopher Wheeler. In the Consolation Event, James O’Reilly will be delighted to claim gold, with a great win over Scotland’s Yazer Rasouf in the Final.

Many thanks to sponsors STIGA – check out their latest newsletter here – http://www.stigatabletennis.com/enews/no2-2010/index.html

Last week, some of Ireland’s top male players were in action at the Luxembourg Open, with some good results recorded…

Day 1

In the Team Event, Ireland 1(Paul McCreery and John Murphy) were defeated 3-0 by Ukraine before facing Austria. This match proved to be a classic battle, as Austria raced into a 2-0 lead. However, the finalists of the 2010 Butterfly National Senior Championships fought back in the Doubles before McCreery levelled the match with an outstanding 5-set victory over Dominique Plattner who is ranked over 400 places ahead of Ireland’s No.1 in the World Rankings. This led to a winner-takes all showdown between the experienced Murphy and Austrian Storf – this match also went the distance, with Murphy unlucky to lose out by 13-11 in the final set.

Ireland 2 is made up of Ashley Robinson and Sam Logue – both of whom are still eligible Juniors. This tournament was always going to be a daunting task for the duo, their highlight to date being a superb Doubles victory over England’s McNeath and Nicholls.

The singles competition gets underway today where the Irish contingent will be looking to score some positive results – the draw is as follows:

McCreery v AARAS PAL Francis (Norway) World Ranked 982

Murphy v SOTA Rei (Albania) – Not Ranked

Robinson v TAUBER Michael (Israel) – World Ranked 818

Logue v Filenko (Ukraine) – World Ranked 496

Murphy and McCreery have both got good draws against lower ranked opponents and will fancy their chances to progress – Robinson and Logue will have to produce stunning performances to shock their opponents. Results will appear on ITTAWeb as soon as they are received.

Day 2

The Irish got off to a great start in the Men’s Singles, with Murphy and McCreery both scoring good wins in the 1st Round over their lower ranked opponents. McCreery then really turned on the style in the 2nd Round as he blitzed England’s David McBeath in straight sets – McBeath is 300 or so places above the Irish No.1 in the World Rankings, so another scalp to add to that of Austrian Plattner. Murphy also progressed to Round 3, but in more dramatic circumstances, taking a 7 set classic against Sweden’s Sven Hansen. Both players eventually crashed out of the main draw in Round 3, with England’s Gavin Evans too strong for Murphy in a straight sets win and Nichola Moller of Switzerland eliminating McCreery. For youngsters Robinson and Logue, this tournament has been a difficult experience and they have struggled to record a victory against established senior internationals – hopefully this experience will stand to them as they develop as International players.

Na Liu also had a fantastic tournament as part of the BTTF squad, finishing runner-up in the event with some terrific performances – she lost out to Malin Petersson in the Final.

Day 2/3 Results in Full

McCreery v AARAS PAL Francis (Norway) WR 982 Won 4-2

McCreery v David McBeath(England) WR 689 Won 4-0

McCreery v Nichola Mohler(Switzerland) WR412 Lost 4-1

McCreery v Boris de Vries (Netherlands) WR636 Lost 4-2

McCreery v Jan Thews(Lux) WR1138 Won 4-0

McCreery v Eric Berner(NOR) WR448 Lost 4-2

Finished: 53rd

Murphy v SOTA Rei (Albania) Not Ranked Won 4-0

John Murphy v Sven Hansen WR963 Win 4-3

Murphy v Gavin Evans(England) WR458 Lost 4-0

Murphy v Valeriy Rakov(Ukr) Not Ranked Lost 4-2

Murphy v Endika Diez(Spa) WR445 Lost 4-1

Murphy v Daniel O’Connell(WAL) Not Ranked Won 4-1

Finished: 57th Place

Ashley Robinson v TAUBER Michael (Israel) – WR818 Lost 4-2

Ashley Robinson v Christian Kill(Lux) WR733 Lost 4-2

Robinson v Mike Bast(Lux) WR588 Lost 4-0

Robinson v Lars Ronneborg(Nor) WR1267 Lost 4-0

Robinson v Stewart CRAWFORD WR556 Lost 4-0

Finished: 83rd Place

Logue v Filenko (Ukraine) WR 496 Lost 4-0

Logue v Simon Arvidsson(Sweden) WR425 Lost 4-0

Logue v Casper Ter Luun(Netherlands) WR 619 Lost 4-0

Logue v AARAS PAL Francis (Norway) WR 982 Lost 4-0

Logue v Illio BARBOLIN(Belarus)  WR521 Lost 4-0

Finished: 83rd Place

Some of Ireland’s top men’s players are currently competing at the Luxembourg Open, with some good results recorded so far.

Day 1

In the Team Event, Ireland 1(Paul McCreery and John Murphy) were defeated 3-0 by Ukraine before facing Austria. This match proved to be a classic battle, as Austria raced into a 2-0 lead. However, the finalists of the 2010 Butterfly National Senior Championships fought back in the Doubles before McCreery levelled the match with an outstanding 5-set victory over Dominique Plattner who is ranked over 400 places ahead of Ireland’s No.1 in the World Rankings. This led to a winner-takes all showdown between the experienced Murphy and Austrian Storf – this match also went the distance, with Murphy unlucky to lose out by 13-11 in the final set.

Ireland 2 is made up of Ashley Robinson and Sam Logue – both of whom are still eligible Juniors. This tournament was always going to be a daunting task for the duo, their highlight to date being a superb Doubles victory over England’s McNeath and Nicholls.

The singles competition gets underway today where the Irish contingent will be looking to score some positive results – the draw is as follows:

McCreery v AARAS PAL Francis (Norway) World Ranked 982

Murphy v SOTA Rei (Albania) – Not Ranked

Robinson v TAUBER Michael (Israel) – World Ranked 818

Logue v Filenko (Ukraine) – World Ranked 496

Murphy and McCreery have both got good draws against lower ranked opponents and will fancy their chances to progress – Robinson and Logue will have to produce stunning performances to shock their opponents. Results will appear on ITTAWeb as soon as they are received.

Day 2

The Irish got off to a great start in the Men’s Singles, with Murphy and McCreery both scoring good wins in the 1st Round over their lower ranked opponents. McCreery then really turned on the style in the 2nd Round as he blitzed England’s David McBeath in straight sets – McBeath is 300 or so places above the Irish No.1 in the World Rankings, so another scalp to add to that of Austrian Plattner. Murphy also progressed to Round 3, but in more dramatic circumstances, taking a 7 set classic against Sweden’s Sven Hansen. Both players eventually crashed out of the main draw in Round 3, with England’s Gavin Evans too strong for Murphy in a straight sets win and Nichola Moller of Switzerland eliminating McCreery. For youngsters Robinson and Logue, this tournament has been a difficult experience and they have struggled to record a victory against established senior internationals – hopefully this experience will stand to them as they develop as International players.

Day 2 Results in Full

McCreery v AARAS PAL Francis (Norway) WR 982 Won 4-2

McCreery v David McBeath(England) WR 689 Won 4-0

McCreery v Nichola Mohler(Switzerland) WR412 Lost 4-1

McCreery v Boris de Vries (Netherlands) WR636 Lost 4-2

McCreery v Jan Thews(Lux) WR1138 Lost 4-0

Murphy v SOTA Rei (Albania) Not Ranked Won 4-0

John Murphy v Sven Hansen WR963 Win 4-3

Murphy v Gavin Evans(England) WR458 Lost 4-0

Murphy v Valeriy Rakov(Ukr) Not Ranked Lost 4-2

Murphy v Endika Diez(Spa) WR445 Lost 4-1

Ashley Robinson v TAUBER Michael (Israel) – WR818 Lost 4-2

Ashley Robinson v Christian Kill(Lux) WR733 Lost 4-2

Rob v Mike Bast(Lux) WR588 Lost 4-0

Lars Ronneborg(Nor) WR1267 Lost 4-0

Logue v Filenko (Ukraine) WR 496 Lost 4-0

Logue v Simon Arvidsson(Sweden) WR425 Lost 4-0

Logue v Casper Ter Luun(Netherlands) WR 619 Lost 4-0

Logue v AARAS PAL Francis (Norway) WR 982 Lost 4-0

Lost 4-0