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.
At the Cardiff Open in Wales this weekend, Irish players produced some top class performances to claim some major silverware. Paul McCreery took both the Men’s Open Singles and the Men’s Band 1 event to continue his good run of form going in to this weekend’s Butterfly Senior National Championships. In the Women’s event, as expected Na Liu took the Women’s title and Amanda Mogey produced a spectacular performance to defeat Welsh No.1 Naomi Owen, who is ranked significantly higher in the ITTF World Rankings. Irish players across the board showed improved performances – Ashley Givan won Band 2 and Band 3 of the Women’s event and made the semi-final of the Under 21s. Rebecca Kenny was also in fine form, making the semis of the Band 2 and Band 3 events, defeating Hannah Avery along the way. Team-mate Sara Dolan also made the semi-final of the Under 21s – Dolan had an excellent tournament, recording a significant victory over Angharad Phillips. Connacht’s Sarah Timlin also prduced a strong showing and is quicky developing in her 1st year at international level.
Selected Results
Mens Band 1:
Paul Mc Creery beat Polish player Thomas Rzeszotko in Final and Welsh No. 4 Patrick Thomas in semis.
Mens Open:
Paul McCreery beat Welsh No. 2 Stephen Jenkins in final in 5 sets
Men’s Under 21:
Paul McCreery beat Patrick Thomas Wales 3/0
Men’s Band 6:
Former Irish Champion and Irish International, Alan Monks bt. Stephen Slater. Monks, formerly from the Eastpoint Club in Dublin and now a coach in the Greenhouse Project also won Band 5.
A fantastic TEAM performance results in a great achievement for the Irish Junior Boys Team as they win the Junior British League Premier Title for the first time.
Following on from Weekend 1 when the Irish Boys blew the opposition away, they travelled to the final weekend of the event carrying the weight of expectation of the Irish table tennis community. The players did not disappoint and rose to the occasion magnificently, taking scalps off higher ranked players and in the case of Paul McCreery, progressing through the weekend with a 100% record. There was great spirit and support among all the members of the team which helped to deliver solid individual performances. The Junior British league is a very well run event and a perfect event for Irish teams to participate in. It is the perfect standard to challenge and develop our players whilst providing the chance of real success by finishing in a medal position. Psychologically this is a big boost for the players and staff in the run up to big events such as the Six Nations, Austrian Youth Open and European Youth Championships. Ireland’s Junior Boys epitomised the meaning of Team over the course of the two weekends at Junior British League.
NPC Marcus McDonnell was understandably thrilled: “I would like to personally like to congratulate each team member for their great contribution – It wasn’t plain sailing all the way and each player had their ups and downs along the way but kept their chin up and got back to the task at hand very quickly. Paul McCreery, Sam Hanley, Ashley Robinson and Sam Logue were all in the top 10 of best individual averages, with Paul McCreery topping the table with 18 wins and only 2 losses. We will look forward to defending our new title late in 2010.”
Technical Director John O’Donoghue was keen to highlight this historic achievement: “I am absolutely thrilled that we have finally won this title, its a title we haven’t won before. I would like to pay tribute to the players and coach for pulling off this victory against England’s top ranked players.”
An Irish team consisiting of top veterans Anthony Redmond, Kevin Mackey and David Pemberton were today celebrating a fine weekend at the Veteran’s British League, whcih saw the team top their Division and achieve promotion. The team were in inspired form, taking 7 of their 8 matches to pip Twymark to the Division 2B title. See player averages below – congratulations to all involved in the team.
Irish Shamrocks
Anthony Redmond
Irish Shamrocks
16
14
2
87.50
Dave Pemberton
Irish Shamrocks
16
12
4
75.00
Kevin Mackey
Irish Shamrocks
16
9
7
56.25
The Irish Women finished mid-table in Division 2, with Helen Dolan and Sharon Brien top-scoring for the team.
The purse that was offered for the 2010 STIGA Munster Open this year attracted some English players to the tournament. Former Irish international Jason Sugrue from the West London Academy brought some of his top players to the tournament.
First Anglo-Irish battle was between Conor Nolan and Daniel Basterfield from the Academy in the last 16. Nolan lost the first narrowly before going 2 sets to 1 down. Winning the 4th set with some ease the match set up for a grand finale, Nolan eventually winning out a closely contested match 11 9 in the 5th.
The battle continued in Quarter Finals with Ulster’s Ashley Robinson pitted against former Irish Number 1 Jason Sugrue. Sugrue won the first set easily 11:4 and the balance of the game may have been in the second set where Robinson narrowly lost out 12:10 and then went on to take the third set 11:4. Sugrue proved just too strong for Robinson though, comprehensively taking the 4th and final set 11:2. Next into the fray against Sugrue was Eastpoint junior Sam Hanley. Hanley produced a stunning display of table tennis winning in straight sets with what can only be described as a flawless display of table tennis. The Final of the Men’s was a most sublime game of table tennis between Sam Hanley and Paul McCreery. Sam Hanley took the first two sets and went 10:8 up in the 3rd. At this stage there looked no way back for Paul McCreery and it looked all over bar the shouting. McCreery’s coach Daryl Strong made the decision to use his time out and the 3rd game was turned around with McCreery taking it 12:10. McCreery went on to take the 4th set and the game now hung in the balance. This game had everything and some of the finest table tennis was on display for a very appreciative crowd. Hanley was leading 10:6 in the 5th set before “Paul “Houdini” McCreery clawed his way back into the match and title of Munster Open Champion 2010. The final game was a classic, evenly matched all the way until it reached 10-9 in Hanley’s favour with McCreery serving to save the match. McCreery serves, Hanley hits a magnificent winner, the umpire Tom Mitchell calls game and match 11-9. Hanley turns to the umpire and says “the service was a net!” Score returns to 10-9, Paul wins the point to even up the match at 10 all, and then goes on to win 14-12. Congatulations to Paul on winning his first Senior Tounament, congratulations to both for a fantastic final and congratulations especially to Sam Hanley for a great act of sportsmanship.
In the Junior Boys, McCreery was again in spectacular form, defeating Hanley in the semi-final before winning another 5-setter in the Final against ALSAA’s Sam Logue. In the Junior Girls, Sara Dolan claimed the title with a victory over Connacht’s Sara Timlin, after Ashley Givan lost to the Connacht player.
The Cadet boys was where the next defence of Irish table tennis standards was to take place. Shi Zhao Li the Number 1 Seed from Leinster also had ideas of his own when it came to taking on the number 3 cadet in England, Igor Morais, in the Final, coming back from a 2 sets to one deficit to clinch victory 11 8 in the 5th and lift the cadet title for Leinster. Zhao Li’s sheer aggression and power play overcame the Morais’ wonderful backhand spin shots.
The Senior women’ s final pitted Ulster’s international, Ashley Givan against Sabina Devereux of Leinster. Devereux went ahead after the first game but the determined Givan levelled proceedings before being forced to bring out her best in the subsequent third game. Givan had a tough time all the way until the score went up to 10-10. The Ulster player did not let the opportunity of lifting the title slip away when she won two points to end the game and giving her a one game advantage. Thereafter, Givan raced to a comfortable fourth game win to claim the title. Givan also doubled up by taking the Under 14 Girls final against Munster’s Edel O’Reilly.
In the Under 12 Girls, the up and coming McGlone sisters met in a thrilling Final, with Katie eventually beating Elayna over 5 sets. Jonathan Porter took the Under 12 title with victory over Ulster team-mate Eric Sheckleton.
The Munster Branch is very grateful to all the people who made the journey to Cork this year. To all the coaches and players who conducted themselves fantastically well over the weekend. Also to all the parents without whom many competitors would not have been able to get to the Munster Open. The amount of volunteerism involved in our sport must be saluted specially for the long trek to Cork, many thanks to all. The Munster Branch really pulled together in support of Chairman, Anthony Redmond to make this tournament possible with most clubs in Munster played a part in the success it was. JJ Buttimer and Paul O’Shea spent many long hours deliberating over the entrants long before the start of the tournament and did a fantastic job on the day. A special thanks has to go out to the support received from Ballincollig TT club as without them the tournament would not have been as good as it was.
Irish Senior International teams led by Peter Nilsson(Men) and Arthur Brett(Women) competed in the 2009 Finland Open over the past week, with the players achieving some impressive results.
Team Event
In the Men’s Team event, Ireland 1 (John Murphy and Conor Nolan) progressed to the 2nd Round following a 3-0 victory over San Marino. Here they came up against a very strong Spanish team(who eventually made the Final of the event, losing out to Russia)
and crashed out 3-0. The Ireland 2 team of Sam Hanley and Paul McCreery were eliminated by a high quality Holland team, despite Hanley producing a great performance to defeat CHUNG Wai Lung, who is ranked number 499 in the world, over 600 places ahead of Hanley.
Ireland’s Women’s Team also lost out 3-1 to the Spanish, despite a great win by Claire Nelson over Carmen SOLICHERO, who is ranked number 470 in the world(almost 500 places ahead of Nelson).
The Ireland/Ulster combination of Na Liu and Ashley Givan lost out 3-1 to a strong Swedish team of Marie Persson
Singles – Men(122 entries)
Sam Hanley was the star performer for the Irish Men in an event where the players are guaranteed lots of games, with every place being competed for. Youngster Hanley benefitted from the experience, taking a number of good wins, defeating Marius BUCYS of Lithuania in straight sets before another straight sets win over Belgium’s Robin DEVOS. Following a loss to Darius Knight, he had a fine win over the higher ranked Scotland’s Niall Cameron to secure the highest finish of the Irish team in 61st place.
John Murphy defeated Sergei MANTUROV of Estonia, coming back from 3-0 down to record a fine 4-3 victory. He then lost to Spain’s Cantero, as the Spanish continued to cause misery for the Irish. Murphy then had wins over Samuli SOINE of Finland and Andrey TSYBIN to secure 86th place.
Paul McCreery also had 3 good victories, the best of which was a win against the higher ranked Tauber of Israel and finished in 101st position, with Nolan finishing just behind McCreery.
Singles – Women(62 entries)
With Na Liu withdrawn from the singles due to injury, Amanda Mogey performed the best of the Irish, with a solid win over Marte Grutle AASEBO to claim 45th place, one ahead of Claire Nelson. The inexperienced Ashley Givan will have gained a lot from this event and recorded a win over Finnish player Emma ROLIG to end her tournament.
For the third time in the row, German star Timo BOLL will leave Russia 50.000 USD richer. BOLL defended his title once again and beat compatriot Dimitrij OVTCHAROV in the final of the Super Cup tonight in St. Petersburg. Vladimir SAMSONOV won the match for the third place.
Despite the huge support from the spectators, Dimitrij failed to jeopardize the status of the best European player. Timo was hardly challenged in two opening games, but had some difficulties in the third. OVTCHAROV leveled at 8:8, and put BOLL on first test. Young Dimitrij had a chance in the next game as well. “I played perfect we can not blame OVTCHAROV for a quick final. In addition as a left-hander and a player who knows his style very well I prevented him from attacking me with the serve. Dima lost that advantage and it affect his self confidence as well,” explained BOLL.
The match against Vladimir SAMSONOV preserved the title of the most excitingt game at the Event, and one that was most challenging for the winner. “I had a good start, but Vladi fought back very hard in the second game. After I had a lead 8:4, he managed to win that set and opened the game. It was very good match.” Vladimir SAMSONOV won the match for the third position and 15.000 USD, whilst for Kalinikos KREANGA there was the consolation in 10.000 USD for the fourth position.
Last weekend saw a young Irish squad travel to England for the Stockton Junior 4 Star tournament. Highlights of the vent for the Irish included a gold for the Cadet Girls in the Team event, Ashley Givan and Edel O’Reilly combining well to defeat the Colin Deaton club of Derbyshire by 3 sets to 1. In the Singles event, O’Reilly was in superb battling form, winning a number of tight matches including a great win over Yolanda King(English No.5) to progress to the semi-finals. Givan also made the semi-final of the main event as well as clinching victory in the Grade 1 cadet singles. Katie McGlone capped off a fine weekend for the girls making the semi-finals of the Under 12s.
The team was coached by Shay Logue – full report to follow tomorrow.
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