Posts in category: International Events

Following her impressive performance, workrate and commitment at the ITTF training and selection camp in Shanghai earlier in the year, Sophie has been selected for the Hopes Team for a second year. This is a four person team and players from USA, Malaysia and Singapore make up the remainder of the team.

The Hopes team consists of players who are U13 and will compete against the top U15 girls from the continents of Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and the host nation Poland. The team will gather for a four day training camp before the tournament. 

Sophie will also play in the singles event. Performance Manager, Conn Higgins, stated it was a huge honour for Sophie to be selected as competition for the four places on the Hopes team was very intense. Great credit is due to Sophie, her parents and her club Ormeau TTC. Table Tennis Ireland wishes Sophie all the best for the event.

Table Tennis Ireland would like to wish the players and coaches attending the Euro Mini Championships in Strasbourg next week the very best of luck. Gavin Maguire has said “this event has been the springboard for many of our performance players over the last 6/7 years. It will provide fantastic exposure and opportunity for our players to test themselves against international opposition”. 

Two boys & two girls from the 2007 category and one boy and one girl from the 2008 category were selected. Please see below the players selected to attend:

• Daniel McFaul (Lisburn Rapids)
• Matthew Mooney (Ormeau)
• Aedan McGivern (Craigavon)
• Anjali Singh (Ormeau)
• Alice Looney (Ormeau)
• Grace Looney (Ormeau) 

In the group stages, the Irish Cadet Boys team of Dillon Byrne, James Skelton and Tom Colvin were pitted against Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Malta. The Irish team were able to convincingly push their way to a group first place with 3-0, 3-1 & 3-1 wins respectively. 

After the group stage, Ireland were drawn to play Slovakia in the Last 16 of the competition. Coming up against the number 8 in Europe, Goldir, James Skelton was able to draw down a 10-5 lead in the deciding set at 2-2, unfortunately he was unable to convert and Ireland went 1-0 down. Dillon Byrne stepped up to the plate and convincingly dispatched of the Slovak number 2 Ulherik 3-0. Going into the Doubles the pairing of Dillon and Tom Colvin making his introduction to the match lost out deuce in the 4th in an another incredibly close encounter which at one point had the Irish pair leading 2-1 8-4. Dillon Byrne was unable to pick the Irish hopes back up and he also ran out a 3-2 loser to Goldir the number 1. Agonisingly close to a tremendous feat but the team did themselves proud. 

Moving on to the positional playoffs Ireland were drawn against Norway and Bulgaria, which proved to be an incredibly close group contest. Ireland beat Norway 3-2 with wins from Skelton, Byrne and the Byrne/Colvin in Doubles. Ireland lost 3-2 to Bulgaria with a win each from Skelton and Byrne and a deuce in the 5th loss in the Doubles for Byrne & Colvin. The narrowest of margins again lead to Ireland losing out on a count back and taking 3rd spot in the group which put them into an unfairly reflecting 25-28 playoff. 

Unable to pick themselves up against Greece the Irish boys slumped to a 3-0 defeat but did manage to end the tournament with a 3-0 win over Estonia to sign off the tournament on a positive note. There is lots to be proud of from this Irish team and plenty to be built on for next year. Congratulations to the team of Dillon Byrne, James Skelton and Tom Colvin. 

Results:

v Estonia 3-0 (Byrne 1.5, Skelton 1.5)

v Bosnia & Herz 3-1 (Byrne 2.5, Skelton 0, Colvin 0.5)

v Malta 3-0 (Byrne 1.5, Colvin 1.5)

v Slovakia 1-3 (Byrne 1, Skelton 0, Colvin 0)

v Norway 3-2 (Byrne 1.5, Skelton 1, Colvin 0.5)

v Bulgaria 2-3 (Byrne 1, Skelton 1, Colvin 0)

v Greece 0-3 (Skelton 0, Colvin 0, Byrne, 0)

v Estonia 3-0 (Byrne 1.5, Colvin 1.5)

The cadet girls team of Sophie Earley, Silke Heinen and Lucy McIvor faced Luxemboug, Austria, Switzerland and Spain in its opening group. With two teams to qualify from round one, the stakes were high. First up was Luxembourg who took the opening game against a nervous Sophie Earley(3/1). Silke Heinen, however, was undaunted and levelled the match at 1/1. The doubles combination of Earley/Heinen put Ireland ahead 2/1 and Sophie Earley added another win for a 3/1 victory.

Second match up was against a determined Austria. Sophie Earley’s nerves had now disappeared and she won the opening game. This was followed by a win from Silke Heinen and the match was completed with an impressve doubles win (3/0). Third win on the trot  against Switzerland with a 3/1 victory. Final match saw Ireland play Spain to determine the group winner. Sophie won two singles but crucially we lost the doubles and Spain took the other singles games against Silke.

Second phase gave Ireland a chance to advance to the top 16 against Belarus. A truly amazing battle saw the lead ebb and flow many times. Two fine wins from Sophie but the doubles loss was crucial. The match, on a knifes’ edge at 2/2, with Silke leading 2/1 and game and match point but Belarus managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on a 2-3 scoreline. 

The Cadet girls now played for positions 17 to 28. They lost to a strong Portugal 0/3. Lucy McIvor made her EYC debut against England. Sophie claimed two more singles and a doubles from Silke/Sophie gave Ireland a 3/1 victory. Ireland’s fifth win came against Estonia. Sophie notched up two more wins and again another Silke/Sophie doubles win. Another 3/1 victory.

Ireland finished in 21st position, an improvement of nine places from the previous championship in Romania. Sophie also competed in the singles event and with two impressive wins v Sisanovaite (Ltu) and Balough (Hun) advanced to the last 32 where she fought bravely before losing to fifth seed Papadimitriou (Gre) 2/4. Overall an impressive showing from the girls.

The Irish Junior Boys team of Owen Cathcart (Halmstad), Art McLaughlin (Dublin) & Alan Pattison (Dublin) were drawn in a tough group that included Bosnia & Herzegovina, Latvia, Division top seeds Portugal, and Scotland.

First up on Day 1 was Scotland, with the Irish boys putting in a solid performance to take the 3-0 win, however, later that evening against Portugal, the team didn’t fire, going down on a 1-3 scoreline, and facing down the barrel of entering playoffs, from which their highest possible finishing position would be 29th.  Determined to alleviate the pressure, the team came out blazing on the morning of Day 2, with wins over Latvia, 3-0, and Bosnia & Herzegovina, 3-1, moving the boys into second place in the table and the chance to play for promotion to the top Division.

Day 4 saw the start of the second stage of the Championships, with Ireland drawn against Belarus and Greece, and, with probably their finest sustained passage of play, both teams were accounted for on 3-1 scorelines, with Ireland topping their 2nd group and reaching the promotion playoff places. Playing off for positions 17-20, the team was unable to sustain the level from the second group stage, going down against Turkey (0-3) and Romania (2-3). 

A little disappointed with their last days play, the Junior Boys nonetheless finished in 20th place out of 44 teams, a huge improvement on the last two outings for Junior Boys at the Europeans, up 8 places on 2016 (28th) and up 14 places on 2015 (34th), and was especially impressive given their lower original seeding position due to not entering Junior Boys in 2018 or 2017. This puts the team in a strong position to earn promotion in 2020, and is the highest finish by an Irish Junior Boys team in many years. Owen Cathcart and Art McLaughlin were selected to stay on for the individual events, and neither player disappointed with their performances.

In the doubles, McLaughlin was teamed up with Scot Danny Bajwa, however their nascent partnership didn’t click easily enough to avoid a Round 1 defeat against Austria.  Meanwhile, Cathcart had renewed his established doubles pairing with Borgar Haug of Norway, and this accomplished team won their way through three rounds, with wins over a Czech/Slovak combination, Hungary, and Denmark, before going out in the Quarter Finals, on a 1-3 scoreline, against 2nd Seeds France.  Coming within one match of a European medal is a huge achievement for Cathcart, and is just reward for all the work and commitment being put in, both by him and by his new Club in Halmstad.

In the singles, Cathcart had a bye to the Round of 128, where he was drawn against Greek Zisas Doukeris, who had earlier played against Ireland in the team event, a match won 3-0 by Cathcart; and another professional performance against Doukeris, this time a 4-0 victory, set up a Last 64 against 6th Seed Lilian Bardet of France, with Cathcart never really hitting the high standards of which he is capable, going out 0-4 to the French player.

McLaughlin was drawn against Matei Dumitrescu of Romania in the Round of 256, winning through 4-2.  In the Round of 128, McLaughlin faced once again Daniel Kogans from Latvia, and, as with their tie in the team event, this match hung in the balance until the very end, with McLaughlin only taking the lead for the first time early in the 7th set, going on to take the match 4-3.  The reward for reaching the Last 64 was a meeting with the 9th Seed, Belgian Olav Kosolosky, McLaughlin going down 1-4 in a hard fought encounter.

With the competition arena filled with most of the World’s leading players representing their countries, the standard of play was, as expected, very high. First to the table was 16-year-old Cathcart, from the Ormeau Club in Belfast, in a group of three players. Unfortunately, his first scheduled opponent, AL-MOHANNADI(QAT), was unable to play and this left Cathcart, who now plays full time in Sweden, with his first and only group match versus the strong Romanian, SZOCS.  Owen showed good quality play leading the first set 10-8 before losing 10-12.  Cathcart lost the second easily 5-11.  In the third set Cathcart went off to a good lead but again lost out 10-12.  In the fourth set Szocs stepped up the pace, Cathcart losing out 7-11, and 0-4 on sets.

Maguire, of the UCD Club in Dublin, had two classy players from Belarus and Egypt in his group. His first match was against YARASHENKA(BLR) and despite a close fought four sets, Maguire lost out 0-4 (-9,-10,-9,-8).  The second match for Maguire was versus the experienced EL-BEIALI(EGY), which, despite some controversy over the Egyptian service action, also went 0-4 against Maguire.

In the Mens Doubles, Cathcart paired up with his regular partner on the Junior Circuit, Borgar Haug(NOR), with whom he has enjoyed many past successes.  Cathcart/Haug began by defeating a Madagascar pair 3-0.  Maguire, paired with Norway player Adrian Wetzel, also took a win in their first match, 3-0 over a Jordanian pair.  Cathcart/Haug then lined out to play a very strong USA pairing,  JHA/LIU, recording a 0-3 loss, despite a close 2nd set, and exiting the Championships.  Maguire/Wetzel also faced a tough challenge against the ASSAR brothers from Egypt, who took out the Irish/ Norway pairing 3/0, finishing the Irish interest at the Championships.

Sophie Earley in action

Table Tennis Ireland sent a Cadet Girls team consisting of Sophie Earley(Ormeau), Silke Heinen (Leeside) and Pravesha Ragi (Loop) to this event. Owen Cathcart (Halmstad BTK/Ormeau) who has now relocated to Sweden was also in action throughout the 5 days. 

Owen Cathcart kicked off his campaign early on the Wednesday playing in the Junior Boys singles taking strong wins over Emborg (DEN) 3-0 and Rustemovski (MKD).  Next up for Cathcart was the main draw and last 64 of the boys singles where he faced Moullet (SUI) and again in a convincing style he put together a serious 4-1 performance. As the ITTF Junior boys took a pause in the main draw it was time for the successful partnership of Cathcart and Borgar Haug (NOR) to team up again as the tournament 7th seeds.  The lads cruised through their first two matches with a 3-0 win over Italy, 3-1 win over USA and finally an impressive 3-1 win against a Singapore team in the Last 16.  This brought a successful finish on day one for Cathcart and Haug.

Thursday brought Knockout stages in both the singles and doubles and Cathcart was fired up to progress in the event.  In the doubles quarterfinals, the combined IRL/NOR team faced Puppo and Rossi from Italy and this proved to be an epic game going to the wire and pipping the Italian duo in the 5th set proceeding to a guarantee medal spot.  In the semifinals it was a classic Cathcart/Haug encounter with the experienced pair winning the first and fourth sets against ranked Singapore players Chua/Yu; only to see them take match points in the deciding game. This time it wasn’t to be as the Singapore pair mounted a comeback to clinch the match 13-11 in the final game.  Another fantastic achievement from both players and again showing class gaining another medal in a top ITTF Junior event.

In the Junior Boys Last 16, Cathcart tuned back into singles mode and prepped himself for a tough game against Zong (SGP).  Cathcart made a strong start in this match and showed his experience to fire home an epic 4-1 victory and book himself into the quarter-final stages of the Swedish Junior Open.  With already 19 ITTF pro tour medals to his name, Cathcart was pushing to get into the winner’s enclosure once again but it was one step too far against the experienced and highly ranked Stomper from Germany, with Ireland going down 1-4.  Massive congratulations to Owen on another remarkable tournament and doing your country and club proud.

The girls started their tournament on the Friday beginning in the morning with matches in the Elite Women’s singles.  The Elite Women was a great level with many Japanese, Russian, German and Swedish players in the tournament.  This was a tough first test for all the girls, playing against mainly senior ladies who are top-ranked in their countries, but there were some notable performances with Sophie taking Swedish Junior Edvidsson to the fifth end and even leading only to lose in deuce.  Silke started very well against another Swede, Johansson, by taking the first end but could not maintain this as the Swede stepped it up in the fifth, but overall good performance.

Later Friday evening it was Sophie Earley that was up to play the ITTF Mini Cadet tournament. The Mini Cadets had a lot of unknown Russian players, and unfortunately for Earley she drew unknown Russian Nizamova in the first match. The game got underway and while Earley battled hard, it was the first match of the evening and she was not firing on all shots, losing out 2-3.   Earley was a little disappointed, but managed to shrug this off and set her target on battling through with two good wins against Kalvatin (NOR) and Nilsson (SWE), both 3-0.

Saturday morning saw the Mini Cadets start at the Last 16 stages and Sophie coming second in her group ended up drawing Hannah Goda (EGY), against whom she has had many battles in the past.  Goda came out strong in the first two sets and just pipped Earley 9-11 and 9-11 to take the lead 2-0.  Earley was as resilient and she fought hard to take the match to the fifth, only to see her Mini Cadet tournament end with another deuce finish.

Next up for the girls on Saturday was the ITTF Cadet Girls event where Heinen and Ragi started in the group stages and Earley, with a high world ranking, had a bye into the main draw.  Ragi started her Cadet campaign with two tough matches against a Russian girl and Czech girl; showing good fight and determination she lost these both 1-3 but played very well and kept herself in the mix throughout the matches. Not deterred from her first two losses, Ragi was determined to get a win and this came against the third player in the group, Myklebust from Norway.  This game started in the Norwegians favour with her taking the first two sets but a turnaround in the third led to a massive comeback and Ragi winning in the fifth set!  

Heinen was next up and again faced a tough international group with first singles against Soderlund (SWE) and this proved to be a great game with Heinen showing her mix of defence and attack to hold the game and take the win in the fifth.  Next up for Silke was Pugovking (RUS) where the Russian showed just too much firepower, Heinene losing out 0-3.  The final match of the group was against Marriot (England) and this was a must-win game in order to make the KO stages of the ITTF Cadets.  Heinen in this match played very well on the defence and her defensive skills proved too strong for the English national team player, emerging as the winner 3-0 and booking herself a place in the main draw.  With Earley and Heinen through to the main draw, it was Heinen up first with a last 64 game against Voronina (RUS).  Again, this was a tough match against another strong Russian player and it was the Russian who came off the winner this time, Heinen finishing her interest in the event on a 0-3 scoreline.  Earley started her Cadet event in the last 32 stages against Pyaterikova where she was on top from the start to win this game in convincing style 3-0 and move into the last 16.  Next up for Sophie was Dmitrienko (RUS) which was a very close affair with may topspin to topspin rallies only to eventually go in the Russians favour, Earley losing out 0-3.  This was overall an excellent for the three girls and a great result for Sophie Earley to finish in the Top 16 positions of an International ITTF ranking event.

Heinen and Ragi both competed in the Safir U18 and Safir U16 events which were difficult as it was straight KO; Heinen was unable to progress from two tough first-round matches against a Russian and a girl from Singapore.  Ragi got another win over Norweign Myklebust in the U16 girls and then set up a tie against Vasilenka (RUS), losing out 0-3, which concluded her events. Last player standing in the Irish contingent was Sophie Earley who had the Safir U14 event to play on Sunday morning.   Earley again got better as the tournament went on, starting well with a 3-0 win over Marriot (ENG) in the last 32, followed by Stotz (GER) 3-0 in the last 16.  At Quarter Final stage Earley faced the tough USA opponent Zhu which again turned out to be a very close encounter with Earley battling hard but losing out 1-3!

Very good show from the Irish contingent with Owen Cathcart leading the way again bringing further success in the ITTF Junior event winning a bronze medal in the Junior Boys Doubles with partner Borgar (Norway) and finishing with a Top 8 finish in the Junior Boys singles! Well done to Owen who has been working hard on his game in Sweden and glad results are starting to show! Well done to the Cadet Girls squad on their individual performances! 

The young Irish Men’s Team has finished in 2nd place in Group B4 of the European Team Championships behind Lithuania and before San Marino and Azerbaijan who finished in 3rd and 4th places respectively. The Team was led by Non-Playing Captain John Murphy in the first half of the competition and then by Conn Higgins in the second half.

Ireland now go forward to Stage 2 which will be played on 18th/19th May, 2019 when the 5 group winners and 5 group runners up will play on a round robin system during one weekend. The other qualifying teams include the Czech Republic, England, the Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland.

We wish our team every success in Stage 2 in May 2019.

The Ireland Team of Ryan Farrell, Alex Gillen and new cap, Thomas Earley put up a spirited performance in their European Championships match versus group leaders and likely group winners Lithuania in Vilnius.
First on the table was Ryan, who came through in a 3/0 win, in an excellent display of controlled table tennis to beat Rimas Lesvs. Ryan showed great mental strength in coming from 8/10 down in each of the first and second sets to win both.
The second match was Alex Gillen against their No. 1, Alfredas Udra. Unfortunately, Alfredas showed all the skills he had displayed in the first match versus Lithuania in Lisburn in March to win in straight sets despite Alex playing well.
The third match was between Ireland’s new player, Thomas Earley and Matas Skucas. It was “nip and tuck” between the players for the first 4 sets with Thomas’s defence/attack game causing his opponent some considerable problems. In his first international Thomas was playing magnificently. However, the fifth set saw Matas winning a closely fought 5th set 11/7.
With the match score at 2/1 to Lithuania, Alex took to the table with every hope of beating Lesvs. With 3 of the 4 sets being won 11/9, 12/10 and 12/10 Lesvs scraped through to win the match 3/1 for his country.
Lithuanian coach, Arturas Orlovas, was clearly relieved at recording the win. Irish coach, Conn Higgins was gutted but delighted at the great performance and team spirit of his young Irish Team.
Thank you to the Lithuanian Association for their wonderful hospitality!