Posts in category: National Events

Table Tennis Ireland were delighted to be involved at the SARI (Sport Against Racism Ireland) SportsFest in the Garda Sports Grounds, Phoenix Park, Dublin on Saturday the 10th of September!

The SARI SportsFest aim is to bring as many people as possible living in Direct Provision Centres and refugee communities in Ireland to participate. This year more than 430 guests originally from South Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan, Syria, Burma/Myanmar, Nigeria, Iran, Zimbabwe, Albania, Pakistan and other countries participated.

Tara Fusco ran the table tennis event for the day, which was very enjoyable with lots of engagement. Many young boys and girls picked up a bat and gave table tennis a go, lots of fun was had by all. Thank you to Tara for running a great event at the SportsFest.

The 2022 Irish Junior Classification Tournament will take place on the 24th and 25th of September at DCU.

Entries are now open through our JustGo system (see link below) and will close Thursday 15th of September 2022 @ 23:59.

All players and coaches are advised to read the entry form for full details on the events taking place and the tournament regulations.

Entry Link:  https://tti.justgo.com/workbench/public/events?ref=AE5B08D8F10EF7FF915875320484FF0F34C1B1A7

Entry form and further details, downloadable here: https://tabletennisireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Irish-Junior-Classification-2022-Entry-Form-1.pdf

Any queries should be sent to [email protected] 

The Senior Classification is taking place this weekend in the National Indoor Arena, Blanchardstown on Saturday and Sunday, 27th and 28th of August.

Please see attached the draws for Saturday. NIA open at 8am, check-in at 8.30am and play starts 9am sharp.

There is no Women’s Qualifying event on Saturday, the women’s full event will take place on Sunday. Sunday’s groups will not be completed until after the qualifying event on Saturday. 

Please keep an eye out on our website and social medias for updates on the draws.

Men’s Qualifiers: https://tabletennisireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Irish-Senior-Classification-2022-Mens-Qual-1st-Rd-9-Groups.pdf

Women’s Groups:

https://tabletennisireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Womens-Draws.jpg

Mens Group A:

Men’s Group B:

Entry from 8am on Saturday and 9am Sunday. 

Saturday 27th: 

• Men’s Qualifier Event: Beginning at 9am, check in at 8:30am.

Sunday 28th

• Women’s Event: Beginning at 10am
• Men’s Event: Beginning at 10am

Live Streaming

Make sure to check out our YouTube channel for some live streams that will be taking place throughout the weekend:  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbdL2IO82NUK4hG_muZRzA

Parking 

There is plenty of free parking available at the National Indoor Arena, which is in front of the main building, which is signposted clearly. Please do not park in the loading bay that is directly outside of the entrance of the facilities. 

Catering 

The cafe in the National Indoor Arena will be open at the weekend. Refreshments available include: tea, Coffee, Water, Soft Drinks, Toasties, Fruit, Snacks and lots more.  We have been advised that hot drinks are not permitted in the hall, please respect the rules of the facility.

Anti-doping Update:

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2022 List of Prohibitive Substances has been updated since the 1st of January 2022. Sport Ireland launched the Anti-Doping Digital Wallet Card for 2022 (attached). It is essential that all players and support personnel whether coaches, physicians, or doctors attached to clubs or teams, consult this educational card, as well as the closely related Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes. 

Enjoy the event and we would like to wish to wish all the players, coaches, officials and volunteers the very best of luck at the weekend! 

Wishing everyone the very best in the new upcoming season.

21-22 May 

Being more used to freezing temperatures for the Munster Open, in its more usual calendar slot of January, it was a pleasure to hold the 2022 Open in relatively balmy temperatures of 14 degrees C in the picturesque town of Kinsale, Co Cork last weekend. The venue was the Saile Sports & Community Centre. The Saile Centre proved to be a very welcoming venue with excellent cooperation between staff and the Munster Branch Organising Committee giving rise to a well-run event for competitors and a positive experience for visitors. 82 competitors were engaged over the weekend, which represented a drop of 50% on the numbers from the last Munster Open in 2020 and, thus, the event ran under a significant financial cloud.  The Open commenced at 9.30 am on Saturday 21^st and finished at 5.00 pm on Sunday 22^nd. Competition was offered at all the usual categories with the exception of the Under 11s singles and the doubles in all categories.   

There were a number of double winners among the 11 categories offered. Notable here were young Peadar Sheridan from Ormeau, a winner in both the Mini Cadet and Cadet Boys, Rory Scott, from Horsham Spinners Club, a winner in both the Vets and Restricted categories – Rory nearly achieved a hat trick in finishing second to Alex Gillen in the Men’s Singles – and Ciaran O’Donoghue, a winner of both the Junior Boys and U/21s. Honourable mention must go, also, to Niamh Mason, also from Ormeau, who won the Cadet Girls and was runner up in both the Women’s and Junior Girls’ Singles. Special mention must to the Sheridan brothers, Senan and Peadar who competed against each other in the Cadet Boys category final. It will stay long in the memory of the Munster Open, such was the quality of the competition, that it took 6 hours to complete the final stage of the Cadet Boys category on the Saturday. We cannot forget to mention other siblings competing in the Open, namely Megan and Lucy Lou O’Brien, Anjali and Aaditya Singh, Boris and Stefan Bonchev, Sean and Ben Loughnane and Alex and Jack Healy. It could be said that the family that plays table tennis together stays together!  

The senior titles went to Alex Gillen (UCD), current Men’s national champion,and Sabina Deveraux (Wexford). Looking across the results there were winners from three branches. Ulster led the way with a total of 5 winners, Munster were second with 3 winners and Leinster had 1 winner. 

Finally, but not least, thanks must go to Tournament Referee, Con O’Ceadaigh and Assistant to the Referee, Niall O’Flaherty, for their efficient and effective management of the many matches played over the weekend. In this regard they were ably assisted by Brenda Burns, umpire, and Shauna Fox, Sports Executive with TTI.  Until next year……. 

RESULTS

1. Men’s Singles – winner Alex Gillen UCD, runner up Rory Scott Horsham Spinners

2. Women’s Singles – winner Sabina Devereux Wexford, runner up Niamh Mason Ormeau

3. U/21s Boys – winner Ciaran O’Donoghue Ballincollig, and runner up Matthew Collins Beech Hill

4. U/19s Boys – winner Ciaran O’Donoghue Ballincollig and runner up Sean Loughnane South Coast

5. U/19s Girls – winner Anjali Singh Ormeau and runner up Niamh Mason also Ormeau

6. U/15s Boys – winner Peadar Sheridan Ormeau and runner up Senan Sheridan Ormeau

7. U/15s Girls – winner Niamh Mason Ormeau and runner up Anjali Singh Ormeau

8. U/13s Girls – winner Emily Zmudka Leeside and runner up Ahna McDonnell Pingzone

9. U/13s Boys – winner Peadar Sheridan Ormeau and runner up Stefan Bonchev UCD

10. Restricted Singles – winner Rory Scott Horsham Spinners and runner up Raino Soikkeli Loop

11. Para Open Singles – winner Matthew Collins Beech Hill and runner up Aaron Mellows Balbriggan

12. Vets Singles –  winner Rory Scott Horsham Spinners and runner up Philip Shaw Beech Hill

The Munster Open is taking place this weekend. The 2022 Munster Open is taking place this weekend in the Saile Sports & Community Centre, Cappagh, Kinsale Co Cork. Eircode: P17 WD21.

Please see attached the group draws for this weekend.

https://tabletennisireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Munster-Open-RD-1-Groups.pdf

The schedule for the weekend is below. These times are subject to change, please keep an eye out on emails and social media, as further updates may arise tomorrow.  Please arrive in good time for your event. Entry from 8:30am on both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday 21st:

• 9.30am Senior Men
• 10.00am Senior Women
• 2pm Cadets (U15)
• 2pm U21 Men’s Final
• 2pm Veterans

Sunday 22nd

• 9am Juniors (U19)
• 9am Mini Cadets (U13)
• 12pm Restricted Singles
• 2pm Para Singles

Make sure to check out our YouTube channel for some live streams: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbdL2IO82NUK4hG_muZRzA

Munster Open Catering: There will be catering at the Munster open. Munster Branch are delighted to announce that there will be catering available in the Saile Community Center hall on this Saturday and Sunday from approx. 9:00am to 2:30pm. Including tea, Coffee, Water, Soft Drinks, Toasties, Cup of Soup and lots more. Please know this is a cash only service.   Thank you for your understanding. 

Anti-doping Update: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2022 List of Prohibitive Substances has been updated, these changes came into effect from the 1st of January 2022. Sport Ireland launched NEW Anti-Doping Digital Wallet Card for 2022 (HERE). It is essential that all players and support personnel whether coaches, physicians, or doctors attached to clubs or teams, consult this educational card, as well as the closely related Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes.

Enjoy and best of luck to all players, coaches, officials, volunteers and the Munster Branch at the weekend!

The 2022 Junior and Senior Munster Open will take place on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of May at the Saile Sports & Community Centre, Cappagh, Kinsale Co Cork. Eircode: P17 WD21

Entries are now open through our JustGo system and will close at 11pm on Friday 13th of May . All players and coaches are advised to read the Entry Form for full details on the events taking place and tournament regulations.

Enter to the event here: https://tti.justgo.com/workbench/public/events?ref=6B01006A94A880560E19F8BE791202A33D451279

Any queries should be sent to [email protected] AND [email protected]

Table Tennis Ireland wishes to advise all members that the Annual General Meeting of the Provincial Branches are as follows:

1. Connacht Branch:

The Connacht Branch AGM will be taking place on Thursday 19th May 2022 at 7:30pm in the Commercial Boat Club, Steamers Quay, Woodquay, Galway.

For further details on the AGM or to register your attendance, please email [email protected]

2. Leinster Branch:

The Leinster Branch wishes to notify all members that the Annual General Meeting of the Leinster Branch will take place on Thursday 26th May @ 7.30pm in the Conference Room of ISHQ. Members who wish to attend should provide their email address to [email protected], by 5pm Wednesday 25th of May.

3. Munster Branch:

The Munster branch wishes to advise all members that the Annual General Meeting of the Munster Branch will be held on Tuesday 17th May @ 8pm on Zoom. 

Anyone who wishes to attend should provide their email address to [email protected] no later than Friday 13th May in order to receive an invite to the meeting.

4. Ulster Branch:

Table Tennis Ulster wishes to advise all members that the Annual General Meeting of the Ulster Branch will take place on Monday 16th May at 7.30pm at Lisburn Racquets Club.

For further details on the AGM, please email  [email protected]

To register your attendance for Table Tennis Ulster’s AGM, register at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/agm-ulster-branch-irish-table-tennis-association-clg-tickets-324732141577.

Ballymena Adult Challenger Tournament hosted by Ballymena Table Tennis Club Saturday 16th April 2022 

Over 50 table tennis players from the all over Ulster travelled to Ballymena on Easter Saturday to play in the annual Ballymena Adult and Junior Challenger tournaments organised by the local Ballymena Table Tennis Club and held in Ballymena Academy.  

The Adult Challenger tournament split into two Divisions after the stage 1 round robin groups with all 8 seeds successfully progressing to Division 1 by finishing in the top two of their groups. In the Stage 2 Divisional round-robin half of the seeds failed to progress to the stage 3 quarter final knock-outs, namely, Des Flanagan. Paul Gallagher, Vladimir Brzak and Apoorv Sharma. The quarter finals saw two more seeds Matthew McCann and Rodney McKirgan(conceded) fall by the wayside leaving the two top seeds Mark McAllister and Ben Watson take on the unseeded Sean McAnaney and Oliver McQuillan in the semi-finals.  

McAllister, who had earlier recovered from two sets down to defeat Barry Dickson (the conqueror of third seed Des Flanagan) in 5 tight sets managed to slip passed defender Sean McAnaney in four sets. Ben Watson took out the recently crowned Ballymena club champion Oliver McQuillan by a similar 3-1 score line. A tight final was anticipated and both players put on an exhibition of attack and counter attack table tennis with top seed McAllister recovering from a two sets to one deficit to defeat Glenburn’s talented teenager Ben Watson 13-11 in the fifth and final set. 

The Division 2 Adult Challenger was equally tight with Monaghan Collegiate teacher David Hamilton defeating David McCaughern (Osmond), Cormac Quinn (Banbridge), Peter Zagrapan (Ballymena), Tommy Houston (Ballymena) and Michael Witherspoon (Ballymena) to reach the final. There he met talented Ballyclare High School teenager Sebastian Kidd who had recovered from an early group defeat to Michael Witherspoon to reel off four straight wins against Stephen Milnes (Ballymena),  

Michael Allen (Ballymena) William Walker (Bangor) and veteran David Witherspoon (Ballymena). In an attacking encounter experience triumphed over youth with David Hutchinson winning the Division 2 final in four close sets. 

The junior challenger was split into three divisions after the initial round robin stage. The first two Divisions went to the talented Close family with Junior Close taking the Division 1 title and Karstan Close triumphing in the Division 2 event. A young Eimear Hutchinson matched the achievement of her father by taking the Division 3 title. The large group of you talented players seemed to have an enjoyable day and hopefully they all enjoyed their Easter Eggs when home. A big thank you to all the parents who brought the young platers to the school – your commitment is impressive and welcomed. 

Stage 1 Open Groups
Group 1 Table 1	Pos	Group 5 Table 2	Pos
Mark McAllister Byron Graham Sebastian Kidd Michael Witherspoon	1 2 3 4	Matthew McCann David Mucka David McCaughern David Hutchinson	1 2 4 3
Group 2 Table 5		Group 6 Table 2
Ben Watson Stephen Milnes Peter Baird Myron Evans	1 3 2 4	Rodney McKirgan Jeff Irvine Paul McGuiggan Cormac Quinn	1 2 3 4
Group 3 Table 6		Group 7 Table 3
Des Flanagan Andrew Davies William Walker Tommy Houston	1 2 3 4	Vladimir Brzak Sean McAnaney Donna Ryan Michael Allen	2 1 4 3
Group 4 Table 1		Group 8 Table 3
Paul Gallagher Barry Dickson David Stewart Peter Zagrapan	1 2 3 4	Apoorv Sharma Oliver McQuillan David Witherspoon Bye	2 1 3 4

Stage 2 – Division 1 Adult Challenger
Group E (Table 3)	Names	Pos
Winner Group 1 Rup Group 7 Winner Group 8 Rup Group 2	Mark McAllister Vladimir Bezak Oliver McQuillan Peter Baird	1 4 2 3
Group B (Table 3)		Pos
Winner Group 4 Rup Group 3 Winner Group 5 Rup Group 6	Paul Gallagher  Andrew Davies Matthew McCann Jeff Irvine	3 2 1 4
Group C Table 2)		Pos
Winner Group 3 Rup Group 4 Winner Group 6 Rup Group 5	Desmond Flanagan Barry Dickson Rodney McKirgan David Mucka	3 2 1 4
Group D (Table 5)		Pos
Winner Group 2 Rup Group 8 Winner Group 7 Rup Group 1	Ben Watson Sean McAnaney Byron Graham Apoorv Sharma	1 2 3 4

Stage 3 Division 1 Adult Challenger Knock Out
Division 1 Adult Q/Fs		Name			Name
Q/F1 Winner Group A V Rup Group B Q/F2 Winner Group B V Rup Group D Q/F3 Winner Group C V Rup Group A Q/F4 Winner Group D V Rup Group C	T1 T2 T1 T2	Mark McAllister Matthew McCann Rodney McKirgan Ben Watson	3 1 C 3	2 3 – 0	Barry Dickson Sean McAnaney Oliver McQuillan Andrew Davies
		C= Concession
Division 1 Adult S/Fs
S/F1 Winner Q/F 1 V Winner Q/F 2 S/F2 Winner Q/F 3 V Winner Q/F 4	T1 T2	Mark McAllister Oliver McQuillan	3 1	1 3	Sean McAnaney Ben Watson
Division 1 Adult Final
Final Winner S/F 1 V Winner S/F 2	T1	Mark McAllister	3	2	Ben Watson
		13-09-08-11-13			11-11-11-06-11

Ballymena Adult Challenger Tournament hosted by Ballymena Table Tennis Club Saturday 16th April 2022 

Stage 1 Open Groups
Group 1 Table 1	Pos	Group 5 Table 2	Pos
Mark McAllister Byron Graham Sebastian Kidd Michael Witherspoon	1 2 4 3	Matthew McCann David Mucka David McCaughern David Hutchinson	1 2 4 3
Group 2 Table 5	Pos	Group 6 Table 2	Pos
Ben Watson Stephen Milnes Peter Baird Myron Evans	1 3 2 4	Rodney McKirgan Jeff Irvine Paul McGuiggan Cormac Quinn	1 2 3 4
Group 3 Table 6	Pos	Group 7 Table 3	Pos
Des Flanagan Andrew Davies William Walker Tommy Houston	1 2 3 4	Vladimir Brzak Sean McAnaney Donna Ryan Michael Allen	2 1 4 3
Group 4 Table 1	Pos	Group 8 Table 3	Pos
Paul Gallagher Barry Dickson David Stewart Peter Zagrapan	1 2 4 3	Apoorv Sharma Oliver McQuillan David Witherspoon Bye	2 1 3 4

Stage 2 – Division 2 Adult Challenger
Group F (Table 3)	Names	Pos
3rd Group 1 4th Group 7 3rd Group 8 4th Group 2	Michael Witherspoon Donna Ryan David Witherspoon Myron Evans W/D	1 3 2 4
Group F (Table 3)
3rd Group 4 4th Group 3 3rd Group 5 4th Group 6	Peter Zagrapan Tommy Houston David Hutchinson Cormac Quinn	2 3 1 4
Group G (Table 4)
3rd Group 3 4th Group 4 3rd Group 6 4th Group 5	William Walker David Burns Paul McGuiggan David McCaughern	2 4 3 1
Group H (Table 5)
3rd Group 2 4th Group 8 3rd Group 7 4th Group 1	Stephen Milnes Bye Michael Allen Sebastian Kidd	3 4 2 1

Stage 3 Division 2 Adult Challenger Knock Out
Division 2 Adult		Name			Name
Q/F 1 Winner Group E V Rup Group F Q/F 2 Winner Group F V Rup Group H Q/F 3 Winner Group G V Rup Group E Q/F 4 Winner Group H V Rup Group G	T3 T4 T3 T4	Michael Witherspoon David Hutchinson David McCaughern Sebastian Kidd	W W  W	W	Peter Zagrapan Michael Allen Dave Witherspoon William Walker
Division 2 Adult
Sf1 Winner Q/F 1 V Winner Q/F 2 Sf2 Winner Q/F 3 V Winner Q/F 4	T3 T4	Michael Witherspoon David Witherspoon		W W	David Hutchinson Sebastian Kidd
Division 2 Adult
Final Winner S/F 1 V Winner S/F 2	T3	David Hutchinson	3	1	Sebastian Kidd
		08-11-11-11			11-08-09-06