The Ulster Junior & Senior Closed Table Tennis Championships 2023 is taking place on Sunday 2nd of April 2023 at South Lake Leisure Centre, Craigavon. The event is taking place from 9am until 4pm.
Entries will close on FRIDAY 24TH MARCH 2023 10pm.
Further information and to register for the event, please click on the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ulster-junior-senior-closed-table-tennis-championships-2023-tickets-538075396997
Mark Twain wrote “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts”. By that yardstick we travelled well in attending the 2023 Malmo Parasport Event in Sweden this past weekend. The table tennis event saw a record entry of 160 participants from 10 countries – Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, UK, Austria, Jordan, Hungary and Iceland. So much so that the event had to be moved from the main Malmo stadium to the sports hall at Hasthagens where the lack of live streaming and interaction with the wider selection of parasport games devalued the player and supporter experience somewhat.
Nevertheless, the Development Squad put 13 players into the field – the largest Irish entry in the three visits to Malmo to date since 2019 – and we enjoyed our best results in the competition standings to date winning 15 medals in total across the three days.
On Friday Team Ireland won 3 medals , which included a gold medal for Alicia Winter in the seated doubles plate final – her partner was Heinrik Andersson from Austria. Jude Sheldon and Sam Brennan won silver in the standing doubles plate final. So, a good start for the Development Squad.
Saturday saw three general classification and four junior/youth singles categories on offer where 5 medals were won. Patrick McCormick won a bronze medal as a semi-finalist in the morning’s category 3 plate event. The afternoon saw Caoimhe Folan winning the junior girls plate event and Jude Sheldon semi-finalist in the junior boys plate event, Sam Brennan semi-finalist in the youth event and Alicia Winter third in the youth/class 1-5 events.
Sunday proved to be our most successful day with seven medals across classes 1 to 11. Alicia continued her good form with winning the plate final in class 1-3. Conor O Callaghan reached the semi-finals in class 6, while Des Ryan won a bronze medal in the class 6 plate competition. Class 7 saw a brilliant performance by Paddy Vaughan who made it to the final, beating some higher ranked players along the way, but found the current world no 1 and multiple paralympic champion, Will Bayley, too strong in the final. Hello??? Will Bayley!! Back on earth in class 8 both Jude and David McCaughern won bronze medals in the plate competition. In class 9-10 Sean Geoghegan went two steps better and won the plate final. Finally, while we did not have any medallists in class 11, performances since 2020 did improve with strong last 8 achievements in the main event for Aaron Mellows and for Aoife Kelly in the plate competition.
Overall, our most successful player was Alicia Winter with two gold and one bronze with special mention to Jude Sheldon with one silver and two bronze. 15 medals represent a 70% increase on our 2020 medals total and taking the significant improvement in the number of quarter finals achieved – 11 versus 5 in 2020 – the curve for the Para Development Squad is firmly upward.
The investment of the coaches, Sam Logue, Mick Cunningham and Ashley Robinson, along with Para Manager, Gavin Maguire, in the monthly training camps and the complimentary support of the parents/family members is paying off. A big thank you to them all and we look forward to more international competitions and training camps abroad in the future with funding support from TTI. While it hardly needs to be said that what happened in Malmo stays in Malmo, a special shout must go out to Mick Cunningham for his indefatigable good humour throughout the 4 days – his early (very early) morning wake up calls apart (tip no 1: don’t book a room beside his). Finally, the Para Committee will be awarding a specially commissioned St Christopher’s medal to Des ahead of his next trip abroad with the Squad
The following players have accepted their selection for the Malmo Open Games, in Sweden. The team travel to Sweden from the 8th – 13th of February.
The Malmo Open is known as the European Para Sport Games, one of the top events in Europe for Para Athletes. We are very excited to have our para players competing in this prestigious event and representing Ireland in the table tennis event.
We would like to wish the very best of luck to all our players and Coaches Sam Logue and Mick Cunningham who travel to the Malmo Open with the squad!
From the 7th-10th of November, the National Rehabilition Hospital hosted their 9th Annual Sports Champs. Which saw the inpatients compete amongst a wide variety of sports throughout the week. There were many sporting events on offer, such as swimming, archery, rock climbing and lots more. Table Tennis is amongst one of the many great sports on offer.
Over the past year we have collaborated with the NRH delivering training programmes to the patients within the NRH. These have been a fantastic success, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration.
The table tennis event at the NRH was amazing. There was approximately 50+ registered patients for table tennis from all 4 rehabilitation programmes (NRH Spinal Programme, NRH Brain Injury Programme, NRH Limb Absence Programme and NRH Paediatric Programme). Our umpires John Dempsey and Terri McKeon assisted with volunteering and umpiring at the event and provided plenty of tips and encouragement to the table tennis players. The standard of the playing at the table tennis event was superb, the sessions proving useful. Congratulations and well done to all the players on a great competition, we hope to see some of you take part in some of our events!
We would like to thank the NRH Staff for inviting us to be a part of this fabulous event, it is great invite for the patients and volunteers to be involved in. Well done to all the patients, staff, volunteers and everyone for a wonderful week of sport. We look forward to the 10th Annual Sports Champs next year!
Table Tennis Ireland Paralympian, Colin Judge has flown out to Granada, Spain to compete in the 2022 World Para Table Tennis Championships. Colin is competing in the Class 3 Singles. Colin’s event begins on the 8th of November!
Colin, along with coaches Gavin Maguire and Sam Logue have been putting in long hours of training and preparation ahead of this tournament. We are extremely proud of the hard work that has been put in and all the great performances to qualify for this tournament amongst the world’s top players.
From all at Table Tennis Ireland, we would like to wish Colin, Gavin and Sam the very best of luck in this major tournament.
Keep an eye out on our social media as we will be sharing details on Colin’s games. Also, keep up to date on the tournament here: https://www.ittf.com/tournament/5360/Andalucia-2022-World-Para-Table-Tennis-Championships/
Table Tennis Ireland Paralympian Colin Judge has been competing hard in many para events recently. Towards the end of June, he finished in 3rd place at the Para Czech Republic Open and 3rd place in the Para Montenegro Open. Some other great results in 2022, have ensured that Colin has been invited to take part in the Para World Table Tennis Championships in November. Colin has been training hard and prepping ahead of this exciting event, keep it up Colin!
Colin is currently ranked 11th in World which is the highest he has been ranked since his reclassification in 2019. Colin is also at superb 7th in Europe in Class 3 Men’s, two outstanding rankings. All his hard work and preparation is paying off!
We are all very proud of Colin and his outstanding achievementS, and we know that he will represent Ireland extremely well in the Para Table Tennis World Championships in Granada in November 2022.
Best of luck Colin from all of us at Table Tennis Ireland, we know that you will do great. We are all behind you wishing you all the best.
Munster TT conducted two taster sessions in Waterford on the 23rd August and 30th of August in conjunction with Waterford Sports Partnership.
Everyone is delighted to confirm that the sessions will continue up to the end of September with a view to setting up a club in Waterford City. The first sessions attracted 30 participants on the first session and 23 on the second with a mix of beginners, social players and competitive players involved.
A great start to the project! Well done to all involved on some great sessions, and the Munster Branch and the Waterford Sports Partnership for setting up this great initiative.
For more information and details on how to get involved please contact: Liz McEnaney on 086 783 7385
or [email protected]
Ireland’s National Para Table Tennis squad travelled to Lisburn Racquets on Sunday 7 August 2022 for a full day of training under the watchful eye of coach Sam Logue. Some of the Ulster Junior squad attended to act as sparring partners. Squad training gives players the motivation to improve their game and to succeed. Today, was no exception as players put in 110% effort. Some of these players are at the start of their careers but recent coverage of table tennis in Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022 has given each of them goals to strive for. Table tennis is one of the most adaptable and inclusive sports there is for people with all kinds of disabilities. Whether you want to play for fun or competitively, opportunities exist. For more information contact [email protected].
Table tennis Para Open Day in Cork (Munster) This Sunday!
Calling all Wheelchair Athletes, all Wheelchair users or if you have Mobility or Intellectual Disabilities, Table Tennis is open to you. Everyone can play!
Come and play Table Tennis here in Cork!
You are invited to the Munster Para Table Tennis Open Day, from 1pm-3pm this Sunday 26th June. Taking place in Terence MacSwiney Sports Hall (James Kenneally Sports Centre), Harbour View Road, Hollyhill Lane (EIRCODE T23 W880). Everyone is welcome to come and try out the wonderful sport for all.
Table Tennis, For All, For Life
https://www.facebook.com/MunsterParatt/photos/a.111093448308233/111093148308263
The following players have accepted their selection for the European Youth Paralympics Games, in Finland. The team travel to Helsinki from the 27th June – 4th of July.
European Paralympic Youth Games are organised as an introductory international event for many aspiring Para athletes. We are very excited to have two of our own para athletes competing in this prestigious event.
We would like to wish the very best of luck to all our players and Coach Sam Logue who travel to Helsinki next week!
