See full placings for the Ulster open – Junior events here
McCreery too strong for the men and Carey does the treble: Ulster Open 2017 Report and Results
This year’s Ulster Open saw not only some fantastic players, particularly in the womens event, but also some great performances and some shock wins.
It is safe to say it was a very exciting tournament.
The event started on Friday night with the Men’s and Women’s singles groups and Restricted singles groups.
A couple of early surprises in the Men’s groups were Poland’s Dawid Sulkowski beating Sam Logue from North County TT, Irish Cadet No.1 Thomas Joyce from Mayo beating UCD Dublin’s Conor Gallagher. Another excellent performance came from UCD Dublin’s Art McLaughlin, Irish No.2 Cadet and No.3 Junior. He won his ‘group of death’ which included Zak Earley, Hung Nguyen and Robbie Gavin.
In the Women’s singles groups all went according to plan for all the seeds except for one. Mia O’Rahilly Egan found herself in a group with Former Croatian national team player and former world ranked 109 Tina Kupinich.
A very tight game, where the Croatian’s pedigree was evident, saw her edge out O’Rahilly Egan 3-0 in three extremely close and competitive sets.
In the restricted singles the stand out performances came from Tina Kupinich and Shane O’Connor in group A and Philip Jamison and James Magrath in group B. These four progressed to the Semi finals on Saturday where Tina faced James and Phil faced Shane. The Croatian had too much for Glenburn’s Magrath as did Ormeau’s Jamison for Ballincollig’s O’Connor. Jamison Edged out Kupinich 12-10, 14-12, 13-11 in a very competitive final.
Saturday saw the Men’s and Women’s Singles continue. Art McLaughlin continued his fine run beating 8th seed Sam Logue 3-0. Phil Jamison had a great performance to take out Ballincollig’s Irish junior no.2 Dylan Grace. Tom Davis was one of the standout performers of the weekend beating his team mate Alexander Gillen in the quarter final before having match point on Irish No.1 Paul McCreery and losing out 14-12 in the fifth set. Ryan Farrell performed excelently against long standing National team member Gavin Maguire but was denied 3-2 in the end. This set up a mouth watering Clash between the top two seeds. They did not dissapoint. The two team mates and good friends provided a spectacular, topsy turvy match which saw Gavin take a 2-0 lead before being pegged back by Paul who edged a close 3-2 in the end.
The Womens draw saw the addition of familiar face, Charlotte Carey from Wales and not so familiar faces Sejla Fazlic of Germany and Tina Kupinich of Croatia. Kupinich was unfortunate to be drawn against Carey in the quarter final after winning her group and then receiving a bye. Carey won this encounter 3-0. Her full time practice and current form just too much for the tough Croatian. On the other side of the draw, Fazlic, a member of the German junior girls national squad for 2017, eased through Mia O’Rahilly Egan anfd Ashley Givan to set up a mouth watering clash with Carey who came through Rebecca Finn in her Semi final.
These two ladies produced a fantastic game of Table Tennis where they constantly tried to out-smart each other with placement of the ball and variation of pace. It was the German that got off to a great start steaming into a 2-0 lead. It wasn’t long before the Welsh professional got a foothold in the game and began to take back the control. It was in the fourth set where Fazlic had her best chance to win holding an early lead but could not convert. Charlotte that took the fifth set 11-9.
The men’s doubles saw Maguire and Gillen fight off the spirited Farrell and Logue 3-1 to claim the title.
In the women’s doubles Carey and Earley came back from the brink of defeat to beat Fazlic and Nguyen 3-2.
The pairing of Maguire and Carey were too strong for Farrell and Fazlic, the UCD Dublin pairing coming through 3-0.
Junior boys singles saw a surpirse win for James Skelton against Dylan Grace in semi final no.1 while Art McLaughlin ousted his rival Thomas Joyce in semi final no.2. Skelton, in imperious form, went 2-0 ahead in the final before Art started to get into the match. Skelton’s level dropped slightly and McLaughlin’s rose which allowed Art to battle his way back in to the match. Art came through the eventual 3-2 winner. Dylan Grace snatched 3rd place.
Junior girls singles saw long standing junior international Rebecca Finn come out on top beating Leeside’s Zofia Wawrzyniak in the final. Third place went to Loop’s Pravesha Ragi who took out Irish no.1 Mia O’Rahilly Egan during the day. This was an excellent win for Pravesha and shows that all the hard work she is putting in is paying off.
The always competitive cadet boys category proved an exciting tournament, however, for the most part, the seeding positions were fulfilled and there were no great shocks.Thomas Joyce of Mayo fulfilled his no.! seeding by winning the event beating his rival and friend, UCD Dublin’s Art McLaughlin in the final. Ormeau’s rising star James Skelton finished in third place.
Before having to pull out of the junior girls singles on Sunday due to sickness, golden girl Sophie Earley fullfilled her deserved No.1 seeding in the cadet girls singles event beating Pravesha Ragi in the Final. A relatively quiet tournament for Sophie this one but she got the job done on Saturday none the less. The mark of a champion. It was a very successfull tournament for Pravesha Ragi. She continues to improve and show good form. Third place went to Silke Heinen of Leeside TTC. This was a good result for the always improving Silke but she will be looking to better this next time. With her undeniable fighting spirit and ever improving game she will be fully confident of doing this.
There were two stand outs in the U13 boys event. Max Skelton and Jonathon Mooney, both of Ormeau TTC, are showing that they are just slightly ahead of the rest of the pack at the moment. No.1 seed Max sailed through the tournament to the final where he was tested by his team mate but eventually came out on top 3-2. He showed excellent poise and focus to edge out his training partner in the end. Gellert Moravcsik showed his progression taking third place. Ones to watch out for in this category are Gellert himself who is only 11, Fionn Hickey (10) and Tom Irwin (10). Fionn and Tom finished 5th and 6th respectively.
The U13 girls event was another tightly fought event. Again Ormeau TTC had two players representing them in a final. Lucy McIvor beat her friend and clubmate Anna Kelly. Third place went to Rachel Taylor from Buninnadden TTC in Mayo. Reports from the national training camps say that these girls are making big improvements and training hard. The hard work is clearly paying off.
The U11’s event was a participation event where the stars of the future could get some valuable match practise in a stress free environment where results are not of the highest importance. All the kids had fun (the most important thing) and tried their best! We look forward to seeing how these players progress over the next couple of years.
All banded event winners and runners up are listed in the results attached.
See here for all winners and runners up
Masters Leinster Open 2017
The Over 40s groups stage provided fireworks immediately! Allen Robson prevailed over Dave Pemberton and Norman Nabney in one close fought group. Paul Dilger lost out by the minimum margin in five sets to both Rory Scott and Paul Norgrove. At the knockout stage, Allen beat Kevin Mackey 11-9 in the fifth, while Phil Wallace had good wins over Pemberton and Scott. However, Daryl Strong continued his fine start to the season with an emphatic display in the final, beating clubmate Phil in straight sets.
The Ladies event was dominated by Annemarie, without dropping a set in a flawless display. However, Paula and Ikuko can take satisfaction from the marked improvement in their challenge to Gillian and Sharon. Coming events will be approached with an enhanced level of expectation…
Dave Pemberton beat Kevin Mackey in the final of the 50s, accounting for Pat McCloughan in the semi-final. Kevin continues to improve his performance level since his return to tournament play. “Really getting to like this new blade, with a softer Tenergy on the backhand” gives a hint of his future intent. Pat had two gruelling five set matches with Mark McAlister and Allen Robson. His allcourt topspin attack against Robson’s long pimple defensive wiles was a fabulous encounter for those fortunate to see it. Also, Dave Cunningham can be pleased with his performance here.
Maestro Tommy Caffrey beat Finn in the 60s final. Jim Storey was most unfortunate to lose to Brian in the early knockout stage. However, a regrettable administration error meant that Norman Nabney’s entry never made it to the table at all!! Lessons have been learned.
An Old Firm 70s final saw Tommy triumph over Martin. This event produced several five setters, the most notable being Ken Peare’s victory over Liam.
We must thank all those who helped set up the hall, and who umpired matches so readily. Special mention must go to Denis, Jimmy Fleming, and Jim Storey in this regard. The efforts of Stephen and Anthony at Pobalscoil Iosolde, and Henrik of TT Leinster, are greatly appreciated. Apologies are due to those affected by any errors on the Entry Form. Corrective measures will be put in place. Dave and Sharon are commended for running the tournament and providing access to refreshments. Best wishes to Ger and Sharon for a good recovery from challenging physical ailments.
Cathcart strikes gold again!
Spectacular!
After an impressive run in the junior events at the Serbian Open where he picked up a bronze in the team event, a bronze in the doubles and lost a tantalisingly close encounter, 4-3, to Portuguese junior, Vitor Amorim in the quarter final of the singles event Owen continued his fine form to win the cadet boys singles event!
Not only did he win the event, he didn’t even drop a set! Owen has showed great maturity over the past 2 weeks to win the Slovenian Open then go straight into the ITTF rough Diamonds camp where he kept his head down and stayed focussed and come out on the other side winning the Serbian Open and doing as well as he did in the junior events.
These results don’t happen by accident. These results are a culmination years of physical and mental training, experience, dedication, belief and good mentoring. Owen has clearly made a jump in the past couple of months but he will not stop here. He will continue to dedicate himself and apply himself diligently to his craft to be even better in the future.
You’re doing the country and the Table Tennis community so proud, Owen. Keep it up!
It would be wrong not to mention coach John Murphy who is with Owen every step of the way and works tirelessly to bring on the Sport of Table Tennis in Ireland. No doubt he has been a major factor in owens successes.
Click here to read the article written by ITTF on Owen’s win.
Click here to see results of cadet boys tournament
Ireland achieve best ever medal tally at the Veterans 6 Nations!
Veterans Six Nations, 2017.
Three Golds, numerous Silver and some Bronze accumulated to our best ever tally in Guernsey. Gold in the Over 40s Singles was reward for a sustained level of performance from Daryl Strong. Three Irish contenders in the same half saw Daryl prevail over Philip Wallace in an epic five set semi-final on a scoreline of 6,7,-10,-10, 9. Confronting Stephen Horsfield in the final, Daryl went 2 games up early on. Ultimately, however, he called a timeout at 8-8 in the fifth! All of his efforts in recent weeks paid off when his blocking skills absorbed all that Stephen could muster, and he ran out 11-8 victor. Cue elated celebrations from supporters.
Teresa Devaney dominated the Over 60 Ladies event, as is her wont. Improving her focus, she reversed her defeat in the team event to beat Christine Williams, 10,-13,9,4 in the final. Earliest Gold Medal performance was delivered in Over 70s by Oliver Adamson and Tommy Caffrey. Having endured a marathon team match earlier with England’s Peter Radford and Roy Norton, they lost the first two games in the final of the Doubles. They survived a very tight fourth game, to set up an intense decider. From 5-5, they surged to 8-6, whereupon Tommy gave crucial tactical advice for Oliver’s serve. Peter returned both serves into the net, an aberration considering Peter’s triumph later on in Singles. The winning point left honours even for the day: Team Gold for England, Doubles Gold for Ireland.
Silver medals were earned by McAlister and Finn in 50s and 60s Singles, respectively. Mark’s difficult passage to Guernsey was well rewarded with victories over Tony Collins and Dave Pender. However, losing to England’s Steve Green in four was no disgrace at the final hurdle. Brian secured a notable five set triumph over Scotland’s heavy hitting Charlie Brown in the semi-final. Phil Bowen from England was an altogether different proposition in the final! Audrey Robinson also won Silver in Over 70 Ladies, to complement her Over 60 Team medal!!
The Men’s Over 40 and Over 70 teams, and the Mixed Over 60 team all won Silver medals. Fine individual performances from Rory Scott, Philip Wallace, Martin Pickles, Philip Shaw and Jim Storey contributed enormously to these successes. Despite a delayed flight, the Ladies Over 50s secured Bronze. Against England B, in the deciding match, a nail-biting 16-14 win in the fifth for Annemarie over Sue Pingram was particularly memorable. Special mention must go the the Over 75 team in this inaugural staging. Liam Perris provided valuable guidance to his team with wily campaigner Ted and new boys Pat and John aboard. They can be very pleased with their fine showing, earning Bronze.
Lionel, Derek, Becks and all of the organisers can be rightly proud of their success in hosting a most enjoyable tournament. On to Cardiff in 2018!
Click here for all winner and runner-up of all events
Click here for over 40 mens team results
Click here for over 40 mens singles result
Click here for over 50 womens team result
Click here for over 60 womens singles result
Click here for over 60 womens team result
Click here for over 70 team result
Click here for over 75 team result
Polish duo shine at Irish Senior Classification
After a hard day’s play on Saturday in the tightly fought qualification event 10 men and 4 Women came through to qualify for Sunday’s play.
The men: Artur Bialek, Michal Korycki, Sam Logue, Joey Nelson, Thomas Earley, Zak Earley, Art McLoughlin, Tom Davis, Daryl Strong and Conor Gallagher and the Women: Thuy Lin Cashman, Erin Thompson, Nga Nguyen and Claire Heller all fought valliantly through very tough matches to earn their places in Sunday’s Main event.
For some of the qualifiers, Sunday would prove to be a difficult day but a benficial one none the less. For others it would prove a very successful day, getting their chance to prove themselves against the best players in the country. Some stand out performers from the qualifiers on the Men’s side were Conor Gallagher and Art McLoughlin. Both showed how much they have improved recently with some beautiful Table Tennis over the two days. Conor finished in 9th place while young Art finished in 14th. On the Women’s side, it was Thuy Lin Cashman who produced the stand out performance perhaps of the whole weekend. She reached the final of the main event losing out to Mia O’Rahilly Egan 4-1 in the final. Thuy Lin showed vast improvements over the two days. This result will only give her confidence and help her to improve further.
It was business as usual for the seeds in the Men’s singles groups with all the seeds going through to the quarter final. There were a couple of upsets though! DCU’s Ryan Farrell played one of the best matches of his life to overcome the eventual winner Artur Bialek 3-1. Ryan was then unfortunate to draw the eventual runner-up Michal Korycki in the quarter final. Ryan put up a great show but was unfortunate to lose 4-0. The other upset was Alexander Gillen beating Michal Korycki in the group! An excellent performance from Sascha. He will take so much confidence from this win and continue to improve. The Semi finals saw two familiar face in Gavin Maguire and Paul McCreery. The two national team regulars had no major issues finding their way to the semi finals. Unfortunately for the two boys their days would end there. Paul lost out to Michal 4-2 in a brilliant match as did Gav to Artur.
After a long day the Two Pingzone players battled it one last time. Artur Bialek came through the winner 4-1 to claim the Irish Senior Classification title.
In the Women’s event there was a surpirse in the form of Irish number 1 Katie McGLone finsihing 3rd in group A on countback. She fell to the in-form Thuy Lin Cashman 3-1. Mia O’Rahilly Egan topped group B with a great win over Rebecca Finn. The Semi finals got under way with Thuy Lin facing Rebecca and Mia facing Sabina Devereux. It was Thuy Lin who cause another upset beating Rebecca Finn 4-3. The second semi fianl saw Mia come through a 4-2 winner over vastly experienced, top 4 regular, Sabina Devereux. This set up a final between the two in form players of the day. A fantastic match full of nail biting rallies saw the classy Mia O’Rahilly Egan come out on top by 4 games to 1.
Please click the links below to see full results of Sunday’s play.
Click here for the Men’s post group stage results
Click here for the Women’s post group stage results
Click here for Mens and Womens group stage results
Keon retains Gold at World Dwarf Games
Sinead Keon Galway has retained her World title at the 7th World Dwarf Games in Guelph, Ontario Canada. She won the Women’s Open Table Tennis Class 2. Sinead met Kim Dean of Team GB in the final where she held her nerve to take the title. Sinead has been training with Ronan Rooney and Rena McCarron Rooney prior to their retirement from Para Table Tennis. Sinead is in class 7 Para Table Tennis and plays with Galway Speeders.
Table Tennis Ireland would like to congratulate Sinead on this incredible achievement. Her hard work and dedication continues to pay off for her. She is a fine example to us all and we are all proud of her. Long may here success continue.
All Ireland Schools Finals – RESULTS
The All Ireland Schools Championships took place in Baldoyle Badminton Centre on Thursday 27th April.
See the full results from a successful days play.
To download the results of the Primary Schools events click here
To download the results of the Secondary Schools events click here
Congraulations to all the winners in what was a fantastic advertisement for schools Table Tennis in Ireland!
Junior Interpro Championships: RESULTS
Ulster emerged victorious at this years junior inter-pro championships, taking home the prestigious shield once again.
In all 6 categories were contested over the course of the day, with the overall winners taking 3 gold medals in all. Leinster were their closest challengers in 2nd place as they won 2 golds, while Munster were victorious in the U13 Girls.
Wallace Mahaffy accepted the overall winners shield for the Ulster team, and was presented by fellow Ulsterman and TTI President, Ken Strong. He even decided to take a selfie for the occasion!
Wallace Mahaffy (Ulster Team Manager, with TTI President, Ken Strong)
The Winner of the prestigious Colum Slevin Award was Munsters John Gould. His highlight of the day came against Connacht in the U15 Boys. As the underdog he raised his game above all expectations in the 9th rubber of his match with Kristijonas Dapkus to win in a marathon match 21/19 in the 5th set, and with it clinching the all important victory. This in turn sealed the Gold medal in that event to Ulster on a close countback!
John Gould (Munster) – Winner of the 2017 Colum Slevin Award
To download the full results from the day, please click here
Master’s National Championships: Report
Some superb table tennis was on display at the recent Championships at Wayside TTC. In the Over 40s, Tibor Pofok overcame Philip Wallace in the group stage. This upset heralded a quarter final meeting between Philip and Ormeau clubmate Daryl Strong. An engaging five setter saw Daryl emerge on a scoreline of 5,-8,-7,6,7. Subsequently, Dave Pemberton ousted Tibor in five sets also. Leading 2-1, but 5-9 down in the fourth in his semi-final against Daryl, Rory Scott displayed great defensive skills and a really aggressive forehand to set up match point at 10-9. With a long, wily rally from the back stanchion, Daryl weathered the storm, and ultimately went on to win the match 8,-8,-9,10,3. Rory was very disappointed with his strangely subdued form in the final set. Daryl emerged as champion beating Dave Pemberton 3-0 in the final to retain the Harry O’Prey Trophy.
Former champion Jean Wyse made a welcome return to compete for the Luke Murray Perpetual Trophy along with seven other contestants. The round robin format produce unexpected results, with all contestants losing at least one match each. Paula O’Neill scored a great win over Ger, -7,-5,10,15,9. Paula also lost narrowly to Gillian in the fifth. Jean beat Ger 4,9,11. Annemarie lost to Ger 0-3. However, her 3-1 win over Jean was the critical result, which meant Annemarie won the title. This was a very good competition enjoyed by all of the contestants. “The trip from Ennis was well worth it! Happy that I came” was Jean’s verdict.
Match of the day was the final of the 50s with Pat McCloughan and Dave Pemberton vying for the David Addy Trophy. An absorbing topspin duel, with both players covering the court, left nothing to choose between them, and a fifth set was always on the cards. Trailing 1-4, Dave levelled at 5 all,…”Time out”. On Dave’s serve, Pat won tight exchanges at the net to lead 7-5. Dave levelled again at 9-9. Pat hit a superb backhand return winner off Dave’s serve. Dave saved the match point, and emerged victorious on a scoreline -9,11,-9,13,11. Another colossal match between these rivals!
Maestro Tommy Caffrey prevailed in both the 60s and 70s events. However, he had to withstand a tremendous challenge from Philip Shaw in the 60s final. Reading the spin well, Philip killed some fabulous winners on both wings to win the first 11-7. Tommy made some subtle tactical changes and some tremendous returns to frustrate Philip subsequently. The fifth set opened in a concentrated, cautious fashion, both players reluctant to force matters. At 5-5, Philip became a little impatient or perhaps determined to force the issue. However, he failed to breach the “wall” which Tommy constructed, lost his focus somewhat, and played some loose shots. Tommy won on a scoreline of -7,7,-6,5,7. “I’ve learned a lot from that particular match! First time in a final against Tommy” was Philip’s assessment. In the 70s, Tommy beat old rival Martin Pickles in four sets at the end of a long day.
Congratulations to all of the victors. Our thanks to members of Wayside TTC, treasurer Sharon, referee Dave, and all who helped set up the hall and umpire matches during the event.
Best wishes to all of our members who are coping with illness at this time.
Please see for full results from the event here