Posts in category: International Events

Fatih Sport Complex in Istanbul awaits the greatest superstars of today’s table tennis at the second Leg of Euro Asia All Star Series. World’s best ranked player China’s WANG Hao will be at the front of the Asian side that will challenge the Europeans led by the Old Continent’s no. 1 German Timo BOLL. The Event in Turkey is scheduled for the November 10th and 11th.

In the European team, BOLL will play alongside Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus, Michale MAZE of Denmark, Werner SCHLAGER of Austria, Kalinikos KREANGA of Greece. Gencay MENGE received wild card as a host nation representative. Turkish player will play two exhibition matches on both competition days.

The Asian team coach CHAN Kong Wah from Hong Kong , beside the Chinese superstar WANG Hao, invited JOO See Yuk of Korea, CHUANG Chih Yuan of Taipei, Hong Kong’s LI Ching and GAO Ning of Singapore.

In Beijing on first Leg of the Euro Asia Event, Europe lost 6:4 (on aggregate) in August. Michael MAZE of Denmark and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany won two matches each. This time Timo BOLL is confident that Europe’s team can do even better.

“Vladi is back after the World Cup, Michael is strong and Kalin, Werner and I try as well our best. We have a good team,” said the player who proved so many times before that he is equal to the Chinese superstars. 

Pan European sport channel EUROPSORT will cover the two days event. On first day coverage will last two hours from 5.30 PM to 7.30 PM, next day the coverage starts at 5 pm and ends at 7 pm CET. The unforgettable inauguration stage of the Euro Asia All Star Series Event at the Bospforus Bridge this summer in Istanbul was fantastic experience that moved the table tennis sport boundaries. Return to the city where East meets the West in November with such heavy list of superstars promising another fantastic journey.

The Junior Girls team of Ashley Givan, Sara Dolan, Sara Timlin and Edel O’Reilly performed magnificently to top their group against some very strong opposition. What’s interesting about this team is that each girl represents a different province, with all the 4 provinces of Ireland being represented.

All the girls contributed to put in an excellent team display. Performance of the weekend went to Ashley Givan who beat the highly rated English U13 number 1 Tin Tin Ho 3-0. Ashley also showed fantastic composure coupled with great play when she was 7-10 down in the fifth against Vicky Smith from Bridge Club, and came back to win 13-11. Ashley, still only 14 years old played at number 1 the whole weekend and won a fantastic 9 out of 10 matches. Edel O’Reilly in her first outing in this competition performed brilliantly winning 4 out of 4, scoring a very good win against the highly ranked Tressa Armitage. Edel is still a cadet and has many more years in this competition to come.

Sarah Timlin has vastly improved recently and had an excellent never say die attitude all weekend, coming back from several setand match points down to win many tight fifth setters. Sarah can be very proud winning 6 of her 8 matches in her first outing at this tournament. Sara Dolan in her last year as a junior also performed well to beat Tressa Armitage and was unlucky to lose several matches in the 5^th set.

 The team currently lead by one point with the nearest challenger being DHS Greenhouse Progress 1 and have put themselves in an excellent position to challenge for honours in the final weekend of this competition.

Amanda Mogey(NPC)

A young Irish cadet squad travelled to Bridlington on the English east coast over the weekend, to compete in the East Yorkshire Cadet Open – a 4 star ranked tournament – which attracted over 100 players, including some of the top Cadet players from England, Scotland and Wales.

The squad consisting of the BoysTeam of Ryan Farrell, Neil Irwin, Kevin Hutchinson and Johnny Porter and Girls Team of Sarah Cooney, Katie McGlone, Elayna McGlone and Orla Timlin was largely a developmental squad that included players that will have another 1,2,3 or in some cases, a further 4 years at the Cadet level. Under the direction of the NPC’s Shay Logue and Louise Long, and the ITTA’s Technical Director, John O’Donoghue, the players had the opportunity to compete against some of the top UK Cadets, and the experience and information gathered over the weekend will be invaluable in their future training programme.

The highlight of the weekend proved to be Katie McGlone’s performance on Saturday in the U12 singles where the 9 year old finished runner up to the number 1 seed and English Champion, Tin Tin Ho. The prospect of playing England’s finest did not faze the talented Katie, who displayed a spirited performance , but was defeated by the experienced Tin Tin. This was Katie’s only defeat during the event, which included an impressive win over the number 2 seed, Emily Bolton.
The Irish did not compete in the U12 Boys event, which was won by the Scottish 10 year old wizzard, Christopher Wheeler.

The Cadet Team event pitched the 4 Irish teams against strong opposition in the group stages, and despite some spirited performances from Neil Irwin and Sarah Cooney, with some 15 deuce games that went against the Irish, the teams did not progress to the knockout stages. The Boys event was won by DHS Greenhouse who surprised by beating the English number 1 team, while the Girls event was completely dominated by England, who included the talented Cathy Bates.

In the Cadet Girls Singles on Sunday, competition was very strong for the younger and inexperienced Irish players.
The event was won by Tressa Armitage who defeated Jessica Dawson 3-1 in the final.

In the Cadet Boys Singles, Sam Walker (Eng) validated his number 1 seeding by beating Igor Morais (Greenhouse) in an exciting final on the scoreline of 3-1.
Best of the Irish boys was Ryan Farrell who progressed from his group to the knockout stages, where he met Ashley Facey-Thompson.
Despite taking the first set with some attacking forehand winners, Ryan was beaten to the last 16 on a score of 1-3 with tight set scores of 9, 9 and 8.

Overall, the standard of this event and quality of the players will prove to be an invaluable experience for these young Irish Cadets, and will provide the NPC’s and Technical Director with a solid benchmark with which to assess their progress in future events.

Gratitude to Shay Logue and Louise Long – NPC’s for the weekend, and to Butterfly, our Official Equipment Sponsor to the National Tea

Sunday 4th October saw the individual event of the Senior 6 Nations. The highlight for the Irish was Amanda Mogey who claimed a bronze medal following some excellent performances. Mogey was drawn against Irish team-mate Claire Nelson in the quarter-finals and the pair who are so familiar with each others games played out 5 sets of fascinating table tennis, with Mogey eventually claiming a semi-final spot with some assured play in the final set.  In the semi-final she came up against England’s Hannah Hicks, who had knocked out Irish youngster Ashley Givan in the quarter final. Givan at her first Senior 6 Nations will be delighted with her last 8 finish, and still a Cadet, she looks to have a glittering career in the game ahead. Mogey took the first set of a closely fought semi-final, but Hicks asserted her authority to take the next 3 sets and progress.

Best for the Irish Men was John Murphy, who also progressed to tje last 8. Here he had a tough opponent in Craig Howieson. Murphy took a 2-1 sets lead and looked on course to make the semi-final. However, Howieson fought back with some clever spin and explosive forehands to eventually bring the game to a final set, where he dominated to win 11-4 and progress. Other notable Irish performances was from veteran Brian Fitzgerald, who took a silver medal in the consolation event.

Key Irish Results

Mens QF: J.Murphy v C.Howieson: 8-11, 14-12, 11-9, 5-11, 4-11

Womens QF: A.Mogey v C.Nelson: 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8

Womens SF: A.Mogey v H.Hicks: 11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-13

In the Mens final, 16 year old Liam Pitchford from England produced a sensational performance to defeat odd-on favourite Ryan Jenkins of Wales. Pitchford from England is a full time player with the English squad based in Sheffield and he was tenacious throughout, belying his inexperience to take his first major Senior International title. In the Ladies event, Naomi Owen was peerless as she stormed through to the Final, taking the Final by 3-0 to claim the Senior 6 Nations title.

Final Results

Mens Final Winner: Liam Pitchford(England bt Ryan Jenkins(wales): 11-4, 7 -11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9

Womens Final Winner: Naomi Owen(Wales) bt H.Hicks England 3-0(11-5, 11-9, 11-3)

The Senior 6 Nations Table tennis Championships got off to an explosive start at DCU on Friday night following an Opening Ceremony led by Dublin’s Lord Mayor Emer Costello.  Ireland’s men couldn’t have asked for a tougher start, coming up first against one of the tournament favourites Wales.

With the Jenkins brothers leading the Welsh, this was always going to be a difficult match for this Irish team, blending a mix of experience in Brian Fitzgerald and John Murphy and youth in promising talents Sam Hanley and Gavin Maguire. Murphy was first into action for the Irish, taking on Steven Jenkins – Jenkins eventually triumphing after a thrilling 5 set match. This was a topsy-turvy affair from start to finish, Murphy was able to level the match at 2-2 with a great display of attacking table tennis in front of a supportive home crowd, but this was not enough to prevent Jenkins taking the match. National champion Maguire was next in action against Ryan Jenkins who showed his class to take a 3-0 win. Fitzgerald and Murphy then lost the Doubles and Wales emerged 3-0 victors. Ireland then had 2 games against Isle of Man and Guernsey, with Sam Hanley and Brian Fitzgerald getting some match time to come through both matches on a 3-0 scoreline.The crucial games were to come on Saturday against England and Scotland.

Against the English, Murphy and Maguire were selected for the Irish and they certainly did not let favourites England have things their own way. Murphy took a set of Pitchford who would later go on to claim the singles prize, before Maguire almost pulled off a major shock, taking Darius Knight to a 5th set before fading. Knight and Pitchford cmbined well in the Doubles, leaving Ireland with a match against the Scots for the bronze medal. This was an intriguing contest and Murphy gave the Irish the early initiative, defeating Niall Cameron in 4 sets. Maguire was next up and he faced Howieson. Maguire took the 1st set but Howieson fought back to eventually claim the match 3-1. Brian Fitzgerald was paired with Murphy for the Doubles, but in a tight and nervy Doubles contest, the Scots took the match leaviing Murphy to play to keep the Irish in contention for bronze. Unfortunately, Howieson was too strong for the Dubliner and Scotland took the bronze, leaving Ireland in 4th position.

In the Women’s event, Ireland also had a tough challenge in their first game against the Welsh. Amanda Mogey is the top ranked player for the Irish and she was in dominant form taking her match against Angharad Phillips, but this was not enough to prevent the Welsh from recording a 3-1 victory. Wales, driven by the top ranked player in the event, Naomi Owen looked ominously strong. Cadet Ashley Givan and Chesire based Fiona Dennett were introduced for the Isle of Man game and did not let anyone down, claiming a 3-0 victory. Coach Brett reverted to Mogey and Claire Nelson for the Guernsey game in the Singles and they delivered the match, despite Mogey dropping a match to Kay Chivers. So similar to the Men, the Women had critical matches against England and Wales. Again Mogey and Nelson were called into action and they did not disappoint. Following a loss to England, the Ladies regrouped and showed immense talend and maturity to dominate the Scottish match, losing in the Doubles but dominating the singles. This victory secured bronze for the team(pictured with supporter above).

With Ireland playing Scotland for Bronze in both the Mens and Womens event, it was a similar story in the battle for Gold, with England and Wales both in contention. In the Mens, Darius Knight was in top form, defeating both Ryan and Steven Jenkins to deliver Gold for England. In the Womens event, Naomi Owen showed her class in a similar fashion, taking her 2 singles and assisting in a Doubles win to claim gold for Wales.

ITTA Technical Director John O’Donoghues was satisfied with some of the Irish performances over the weekend, stating;

“Overall, it was a good weekend for our developing young teams. Amanda Mogey in particular playes very well to repeat her bronze medal success of last year, and was unfortunate in her semi-final against Hannah Hicks. We are disappointed not to have taken bronze in the Mens event, but the players will have learned from this experience as we build for the future”

All in all, it was a superb weekend of table tennis in DCU. Many thanks to tournament referee Karen Tonge MBE, Tony Martin and all of their Umpires for their hard work over the weekend. Also thanks to our event sponsors and volunteers who helped make this a memorable weekend for players and spectators.

In their first Senior European Championships, National Senior Champion Gavin Maguire and National Junior Champion Sam Hanley were the last Irish players standing in the 2nd Round of the Men’s Singles Championships. Both faced difficult opponent in the 2nd Round, with Hanley first up against the Swede Robert Svensson and Maguire against Daniel Habesohn of Austria. Habesohn proved to have too much quality for the Maguire taking the match 4 : 0  (7 8 6 1). Habesohn is ranked in the top 100 in Europe and Maguire will have learned some valuable lessons from this match.

Hanley faced an even more difficult task, coming up against the Swede who is ranked 54 in Europe. With Maguire and Hanley hovering around the 600 mark in the European rankings, their challenge was obvious. However, Hanley caused some consternation in the Svensson camp levelling the match at 1:1. Ultimately, Svensson’s experience at this level eventually proved telling and he progressed 4 : 1  (6 -7 2 5 3).

A full summary of the championship with player and coach reaction will follow in the coming days…