An Irish Junior Boys selection is currently in Girona, Spain to participate in the Spanish Junior Open, which is part of the ITTF Global Junior Circuit.Sam Logue and Declan O’Brien had the opportunity to participate in a pre-event four day training camp with some of the best young players from around the World, many of whom have qualified for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Joined by Irish No.1 Paul McCreery for the tournament, the team were very well prepared for this high quality event.
Today’s play started with a thrilling match against Luxembourg at 0900 hours. Declan O’Brien lost the first against Sven Hansen, before Paul McCreery beat Jim Cloos in straight sets to level the match 1-1. Logue and McCreery were defeated in a hard fought doubles match, before McCreery again levelled the match at 2-2 with a victory over Hansen. This set up a final decider and O’Brien stepped up to the plate with a fine 3-1 victory over Jim Cloos.
Following a brief break, Ireland were back in action with a match against Poland to decide who progressed to the Quarter Final of the Team event. Unfortunately, Poland had too much for the Irish, with Logue and McCreery battling valiantly but ultimately going down 3-0.
The Irish boys now have a break of one day before the singles event on Friday – check back here for full tournament review.
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 23rd of March 2010 to 31st 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 11th 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 3rd 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 3rd 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 11th 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 11th 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
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
This week sees two Irish squads at opposite ends of the spectrum go in to action, as the Senior Men go to the Luxembourg Open while the Primary Schools Boys and Girls Travel to Guernsey.Congratulations to all selected, read on for more…
At the 2010 Junior and Cadet 6 Nations Championships, Team Ireland will travel home on Sunday night with 3 Gold medals – 2 in the Team events and one in the individuals. First to register Gold was the Cadet Girls Team of new National Senior Champion Ashley Givan and Edel O’Reilly of Munster. Under the guidance of NPC Louise Long, the cadet girls were undefeated, beating England to take Gold. Next up was the Junior Boys, fresh from their win at the Junior British League. the trio of McCreery, Robinson and Logue maintained their excellent overseas form to also pip England to the Gold, winning all 5 of their matches.
Paul McCreery registered another impressive performance, taking gold in Sunday’s Individual event. With wins over compatriot Ashley Robinson in the Quarter Final and England’s Lewis Gray in the Semi-Final, McCreery faced local home crowd favourite Sean Doherty. Having dropped the first two sets, McCreery showed steely determination to claw his way back into the match, taking the 3rd set 11-5, before levelling at 11-7. This set up a thrilling last set where McCreery held his nerve and justified his No.1 seeding to become Junior 6 Nations Champion. In the Cadet Girls, new National Senior Champion also progressed to the Individual Final, where she faced Vicki Smith. Smith proved too strong for Givan, taking the match in four sets. However Givan will be happy with Silver, adding to her already significant medal tally in 2010.
Congratulations to all medal winners, this has been the most succesful Junior 6 Nations for the Irish squad for some time.
Main Results from Sunday’s Individual EventsJunior 6 Nations, Scotland 12 – 14 March, 2010 Junior Boys QFS:Paul McCreery (Ire) bt Ashley Robinson(Ire) 3/0Lewis Gray (Eng) bt Daniel Basterfield (Eng) 3/1Daniel ‘Connell (Wa) bt Josh Jenkins (Wa) 3/0 Sean Doherty (Scot) bt Cameron Thomas (W) 3/0 Junior Boys SFS:Paul McCreery bt Lewis Gray 3/1Sean Doherty bt Daniel ‘Connell 3/0 Junior Boys F: Paul McCreery bt Sean Doherty -8, -6, 5, 7, 9 Junior Girls QFS:Natalie Slater(E) bt Rebecca Kenny (I) 3/0Chloe Thomas (W) bt Sara Timlin (I) 3/0Alice Loveridge (Guer) bt Natasha Milliken (S) 3/0Chloe White (E) bt Megan Phillips (W) 3/0 Junior Girls SFS:Natalie Slater bt Chloe Thomas 3/1Chloe White bt Alice Loveridge 3/1 Junior Girls Final: Chloe White bt Natalie Slater 3/0
Cadet Boys QFS:Igor Morais(E) bt Neil Irwin (I) 3/0 Scott Barton (S) bt Lee Morgan (W) 3/1Lewis Wilson (W) bt Ying Jin (S) 3/0Jared Patel (E) bt Ryan Farrell (I) 3/0 Cadet Boys SFS:Igor Morais by Scott Barton 3/1Lewis Williams bt Jared Patel 3/2 Cadet Boys Final: Igor Morais by Lewis Williams 3/1 Cadet Girls QFS:Edel O’Reilly (I) bt Charlotte Carey (W) 3/2Charleigh Kirby (E) bt Beth Roberts (W) 3/0 Cadet Girls SFS:Vicki Smith (E) bt Edel O’Reilly 3/0Ashley Givan (I) bt Charleigh Kirby 3/1 Cadet Girls Final: Vicki Smith bt Ashley Givan 3/1
Junior Boys Consolation Final: Sam Logue (I) bt Calum Main (S) 3/0Junior Girls Consolation Final: Lynda Flaws (S) bt Hannah Avery (W) 3/1Cadet Boys Consolation Final: Laurence Stacey (GU) bt Joshua Stacey (GU) 3/1Cadet Girls Consolation Final: Donna Gillon (S) bt Nadine Wright (S) 3/2
The Leinster Premier League which was staged in a central venue at ESB Sportco, Ringsend, Dublin has its third session of matches where the leaders Eastpoint 1 beat Pioneers and UCD 2 comfortably. UCD also won their matches beating Athlone and Pioneers leaving them one point behind the leaders going into the final session of matches on Sunday 21st March 2010 – it looks like being an enthralling battle between UCD and Eastpoint as UCD attempt to defend their crown from last season. In the individuals Mark O’Flynn (Eastpoint) has a comfortable lead and will be very hard to catch at this stage.
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