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Senior Classification Further Results Updated

The last weekend in August saw the start of the Irish domestic table tennis season with another large entry at the National Senior Classification event. With 115 entries, all of Ireland’s top ranked players were in attendance seeking to establish early position on the Butterfly Senior Ranking list.

Men

McCreery Men’s winner

In Group A, favourite Paul McCreery claimed a 100% record to qualify for the play-offs. Gavin Maguire also looked to be in great form, recording a 3-0 victory over National Champion Murphy and pushing McCreery close in a match he could have won. He qualified in 2nd place with 6 wins from 7 – fans were delighted to see the 2009 National Champion back competing at the very highest level. In Group B, Ashley Robinson claimed the group comfortably, with UCD’s Ryan Owen claiming 2nd to qualify. 

Into the decisive play-offs, Maguire eliminated Robinson to set up a Final against McCreery who had knocked out Ryan Owen. McCreery took the title on a 3:1 scoreline, with Maguire pushing him all the way(5, -9, 10,9). Robinson claimed 3rd for a solid start to his first season outside of the Junior ranks. Other notable performances included Anthony Redmond who claimed 12th place following a gruelling two days for the Qualifier.

Women

The Finals was all about one player – Amanda Mogey – who was absoloutely dominant. Having suffered some injuries last term, Mogey appears to be back to her very best and controlled the event in style. She had a 100% record, including a straight sets win over Junior Ashley Givan – these two players look set to dominate the Womens’ National Rankings this season. In fact, in her 7 wins, Mogey only dropped one game to qualifier Ros Carpenter. Givan claimed 2nd place while 3rd went to Veteran Tersea Devanney following a countback. There were some thrilling games, not least Sarah Timlin’s narrow 2:3 loss to Givan – Timlin will be disappointed with her 8th place finish although there was very little to choose between the players outside of the dominant duo from Ulster.

Click here for full results

VETS

Irish Veterans Qualification Tournament Report

IVTTS  Qualification Tournament Report.

Some lively proceedings emanated from the Qualification Tournament held in Lucan. Kariem Sabir won the Over 40s event, accounting for Kevin Mackey and Kevin Devaney enroute. Worthy performances were registered here by Paul Norgrove, Tommy Fitzgerald and Brian Finn. Martin Pickles gave an outstanding display to beat Kariem in the final of the Over 50s. This followed a marvellous semi-final between Kariem and Kieran Burke.

Recently retired Tommy Caffrey continued with business as usual, winning the Over 60s. Ted Mahaffy beat Ronnie Drain in the 70s decider. Sharon Brien won the Ladies round robin. Catherine Harnedy is to be commended, travelling all the way from Cork just for this event! Kryzstof Karczewski accounted for Alan Taylor and John Finn in the Men’s Consolation.

Once again, our thanks go to STIGA for their generous support. An enjoyable day’s play saw Jim Storey, Mark McAlister, John Harrison and Neil Shanahan, among others, committing to the Veterans programme for the rest of the year. Now, it’s onwards to the Six Nations in Guernsey!

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Spanish Fiesta in Banbridge

There was a super display of table tennis in Banbridge Leisure Centre last Friday evening.

Top class table tennis came to Banbridge in the form of Span­ish Super League playing duo Oriol Monzo and Daniel Torres who faced an Irish Select team which included the current Irish No 1 John Murphy, Ulster No. 1 Peter Graham and International Keith Knox.

The players were welcomed to the area by the Chairperson of Banbridge Council Mrs Joan Baird MBE, who presented gifts to the players and match official Tom Mitchell to mark this first inter­national table tennis match to be held in the area and the first in Northern Ireland for some years.

The event was organised by Ul­ster Table Tennis and Banbridge Table Tennis Club would like to thank Fitzgerald’s Table Tennis, Andrew Dennison Sport, Tayto, Iveagh Movie Studios, Shoefair Sports, Total Hockey and Sterling’s Chemist for their generous spon­sorship of the event. 

The format for the evening re­quired the Irish select team mem­bers to play the Spanish pair in a series of singles matches. The audience including Chairperson Baird MBE, and fans from all parts of the country as well as players and non players from the local area, were not disappointed.

The quality of table tennis was truly amazing and entertaining. Rally after rally saw opponents us­ing the entire length and width of the playing area which, although laid out to Olympic standard, was not large enough, and play­ers frequently were seen jumping over the barriers to return shots – some by necessity, some for sheer entertainment value!

High point of the evening was the Monzo v Torres exhibition match which was simply the most amazing display of table tennis seen in Banbridge.

Frequently the audience would see what they assumed was going to be a winning shot, only for it to be somehow retrieved. Cross ta­ble angles defied imagination and returns around the net post were almost common place.

Comments from experienced players in the audience usually included words such as brilliant, amazing, and unbelievable as the visiting players put on a display of power, skill, imagination and humour, all kept in order by top International umpire Tom Mitch­ell from Dublin, assisted by Luke, Scott, Frazer and Lewis some of the junior section club members.

The result of the contest was an overall victory for Spain’s Monzo and Torres. However Murphy, Graham and Knox put on a fan­tastic show in the hotly contested matches, taking a number of sets off the visitors, which was no mean feat.

Considering Danny and Oriel have played against and prac­tice with the world’s best includ­ing Timo Boll, the world number one and Vladimir Samsonov, the number six, this was not really a surprise result.

What has been achieved as far as the home players is concerned, is that they will have had a world class training session against two quality players, which helps them prepare for their coming season.

All in all this was a great night for table tennis. Everyone in the audience was asking for more and the organizers hope this can be arranged, given the success of this event.

Anyone wishing to play table tennis is invited to come along to Banbridge Table Tennis Club at the Leisure Centre any Friday night – junior 7.30pm and adults 9.00pm. 

Banbridge District Council Chairman Cllr Joan Baird MBE presented Banbridge Plaques to visiting Spanish Super League players Daniel Torres and Oriol Manzo from Team CTT Olesa at the start of the Table Tennis Exhibition Match against the Irish Select at Banbridge Leisure Centre – Edward Byrne Photography INBL34-207EB

Photos are courtesy of Banbridge Leader Newspaper.

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Paralympic Table Tennis – US Open

Irish Players celebrate the 4th Of July

A Big Medal Haul from the US Open for Irish Players made the journey home all that sweeter for London 2012 hopefuls, Eimear Breathnach, Rena Mc Carron Rooney, Philip Quinlan and Ronan Rooney.

In their determination for qualification for the PARALYMPIC GAMES IN LONDON 2012 these four players travelled to the US Open in Milwaukee in an event outside of their scheduled program.

It was certainly worth the trip bringing back one of the best collection of medals for Irish players in recent years.

In The Women’s Class One/Two Event Eimear Breathnach won Gold and Rena Mc Carron Rooney Silver.

Men’s Class 1 Philip Quinlan picked up Gold to add to his collection, while team mate Ronan Rooney was very unlucky to be seeded on an extremely tough side of off the draw in Class 2.

Ronan’s disappointment was short lived as both he and Philip picked up Silver medals in the Team Class 1 / 2 events.

In the Ladies Team which consisted of Class 1-5 players, Eimear and Rena put up a strong fight against Class 5 opponents but failed to get out of there group.

Para Malmo

National Paralympic Novice Table Tennis Championships

The Galway Speeders Club celebrated its first birthday at the weekend by hosting a National Paralympic Novice Table Tennis Championships. The event was held at the Commercial Boat Club and was attended by competitors from Dublin, Meath, Sligo, Cork and Galway.

The event was a great success and saw the coming of age of some fine players. It is also the culmination of a year of training and practice at the Kingfisher every Saturday morning.

In total, there were five competitions. The Open was won by Christine Doyle from Meath, Silver went to Garreth Greene from Dublin while Bronze was secured by Sligo’s Aidan Hynes.           

The Standing Class was won by Aidan Hynes and silver went to Rao Rapolu from Galway.

The Junior Boys Wheelchair Event was won by Galway’s Jack Colbert and Silver was won by Galway’s Mark Henderson.  Bronze went to Cork with Sean Og Nash. 

The Junior Girls Wheelchair Event was won by Annie O’Callaghan from Cork, while Silver went to Jessica Burke who defeated Shauna Bouquet for Bronze in an exciting match.

The Senior Wheelchair Event was won by Christine Doyle who played exceptionally well all day. There were many notable matches, in particular, Galway’s Jack Colbert lost out narrowly, 11-9 in the fifth set, in the semi-final of the Open to the eventual gold medallist, Christine.

National Paralympic Table Tennis coach Paul Dolan said that “It is really exciting to see such talent within our junior ranks and we look forward to them joining our senior panel”.

The Galway Speeders would like to thank Carnmore Brownies for ball girl duties throughout the day. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Kingfisher at NUI Galway, Galway County Sports Partnership and Galway City Sports Partnership for their support throughout the year.

Also, thank you to volunteers, parents and everyone who assisted the club throughout the year. Table tennis for athletes with a physical disability will resume in the autumn at the Kingfisher and all are welcome to attend.

See below for full results

Open Event

Gold  – Christine Doyle

Silver  – Garreth Green

Bronze  – Aidan Hynes

Standing Class

Gold – Aidan Hynes

Silver – Rao Rapolu

Junior Boys Wheelchair

Gold – Jack Colbert

Silver – Mark Henderson

Bronze – Sean Og Nash

Junior Girls Wheelchair

Gold – Annie O’Callaghan

Silver – Jessica Burke

Bronze – Shauna Bouquet

Senior Wheelchair Event

Gold – Christine Doyle

Silver – Garreth Greene

Bronze – Gary Allen

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Ulster Schools League: Finals Report

Ulster Schools’ League Finals

Valley Leisure Centre

Friday 13 May 2011

Twenty six teams, representing the Winners and Runners-up of the Group rounds of the Ulster Schools’ Leagues, met at the Valley Leisure Centre to fight out the knockout stages of the competition.

Royal School Cavan had the majority representation, seven teams, and we welcomed newcomers St Aidan’s Comprehensive Cootehill to their first finals.  The holders of the U19 Girls, Victoria College, were prevented by examination commitments from defending their title, and the Under 12 Girls event had already been decided at the group stage.  There were a number of close matches: in the Under 14 Boys Quarter-Finals Ballyclare High School edged through over Royal School Cavan by the narrow margin of 225 points to 223 after a 3-all draw, but Royal School won a close match 11 games to 9 against Coleraine Inst in the Under 12 Boys, and in the other half of the Under 12 draw Ballyclare High beat a fancied RBAI 222-202 in the Semi-Final.

In the Under 19 Boys, Fivemiletown College, without their leading light Ashley Robinson, still managed to emerge as champions, led by Jonathan Porter, and the Under 14 Boys was won by a Monaghan Collegiate team with Ryan McConkey playing at Number 1.  High School Ballynahinch pulled off another championship at the Under 12 level, though their Final with Ballyclare High was a close fought affair.

In the Girls events, Hannah Lynch-Dawson led Royal School Cavan to a creditable double of wins in both the Under 19 and Under 14 Girls.

The move from the previous venue of Glenburn Methodist Church Hall to the Valley Leisure Centre made for a much more relaxed and comfortable day, and was a welcome innovation.

Report by Tony Phillips

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Ulster Retain Junior Interpro Title

Ulster claimed the Victor Barna Shield at the Junior Interpros held in Killarney last weekend. The Aura Leisure Centre proved to be an excellent facility for table tennis and an appropriate setting for some of Ireland’s top Junior players to display their skills and represent their provinces.

Many observers felt Leinster were favourites to take the Barna Shield but this was not to be the case as a number of tight matches and surprising results led to the trophy travelling back to Ulster yet again, while Munster claimed 2nd place overall.

Event Reviews

Juniors

Munster claimed the Junior Girls title, producing an excellent performance to defeat Ulster 7-2 in the deciding match. Laura Finn produced two battling performances recording wins for Ulster over Aisling Healy and Emily Burns, but Edel O’Reilly won all 3 of her games and Healy and Burns took 2 a piece to claim the victory for the hosts.

In the Junior Boys, Ulster claimed a facile victory over Connacht to kick-off their tournament, with Stephen Slater, Neil Irwin and Kieran Reilly all going undefeated. Next up was Munster and Ashley Robinson came into the team. Robinson was impressive in defeating international colleague Declan O’Brien in straight sets and also winning his other two games. Stephen Slater also produced an excellent display to defeat O’Brien and round off a really good 7-2 victory for Ulster. With Leinster beating Munster 5-4 and Connacht 9-0, a deciding encounter between Leinster and Ulster would decide the title. Sam Logue claimed two points for Leinster with victories over Irwin and Slater, but Robinson was imperious – claiming all 3 of his matches. Slater then clinched the match and the title for Ulster 5-3 with a win over Club Donic’s talented Shi Zhao Li.

Cadets

The Cadet Boys was all about Team Leinster, with international team-mates Conor Mullally, Ryan Farrell and Kevin Hutchinson all representing the favourites and ALSAA’s Ciaran Kelly also playing an important role. They blitzed their opponents to claim the title, Ryan Farrell maintaining a 100% record throughout. This is the 3rd win a row for Leinster in the Cadet Boys event.

Ulster claimed the Cadet Girls title, with Hannah-Lynch Dawson leading the way with some impressive displays. They beat Munster into 2nd place following a 6-3 victory over the hosts. Some excellent matches were a feature of this category – Emma Ludlow’s 5 set(11-9 in the 5th) victory over Leinster’s Meadhbh Slattery in particular stands out.

Under 12s

The Under 12s was a difficult category to call in advance and this proved to be the case. Some enthralling encounters ensued – Munster took a 5-4 victory over Leinster in the first match, Karl Walsh holding his nerve to record two wins in 5 setters. Zak Wilson was on top form as Ulster defeated Connacht 6-3. Club Donic’s Evin McGovern then provided a sign of fireworks to come with a 100% performance in a 6-3 victory for Leinster over Connacht, while Ulster cruised to a 6-3 victory over Munster. Munster closed out their tournament with a 5-2 victory over Connacht while Leinster defeated Ulster 5-4 with Evin McGovern producing two fantastic performances to record wins over joint National Number Ones Zak Wilson and Ryan McConkey. This of course led to a three-way tie and the dreaded count back – Ulster eventually emerging as Under 12 Champions.

Leinster were probably just favourites in the Under 12 Girls, but there were some surprise results with the hosts claiming the title. Valentina Puotkalyte was in unstoppable form, posting victories over Elayna and Katie McGlone as well as Primary School International Nga Nguyen in a thrilling 5-4 victory over Leinster. Brielle Brady and Chloe O’Halloran were also in fine form as Ulster was defeated 8-1 and Munster clinched the title with a 9-0 result over Connacht.

In the end, it was another fantastic Junior Interpros, with lots of great matches and talking points. Munster Under 12 Valentina Puotkalyte was selected for the inaugural Colum Slevin Player of the Tournament Award following her clinical displays in leading the Munster team to the Under 12 title. Congratulations again to the Ulster team and thanks to our sponsors STIGA, tournament referee Con O’Ceadaigh and the Munster Branch for all their fine work in hosting this event.

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AIPS – Titles to Connacht and Leinster

The venue for the Primary Schools Championships this year was the very pleasant Banbridge Leisure Centre where excellent facilities had been set up by Arnold Morgan.  Everyone was welcome to the first occasion on which Ulster had organised this event.  We lacked an entry from Munster in the Girls’ competition, but otherwise all the provinces were represented.  Results were clear cut, so there was no need to use the one game doubles play-off in the event of a draw, nor countback to determine results.

The Boys’ event was dominated by St Teresa’s National School from Kilkelly, though they were pushed hard by both Gaelscoil Ui Fhiaich from Maynooth and Lissagriffin National School from Skibbereen.

In the Girls’ event Guardian Angels National School from Blackrock were clear winners, losing only one individual match.

Many thanks to Ulster Schools sponsor Allianz, Referee Mr.Tony Phillips and Tom Mitchell, Arnold Morgan, Ted Mahaffy and Jamie McConkey for providing Umpire supervision, and to all the players, teachers, coaches and parents for making it a most enjoyable day.

Full results available here