The September issue of the Ulster branch newsletter is available to download from the ITTA Ulster site. Click here to download.
Hanley and Kacsandi Dominate Butterfly Senior Rankings
The ITTA has today released the latest Butterfly National Senior Rankings, following the first Senior tournament of the year, the National Senior Classification. The emerging trend in the Men’s rankings is the dominance of youth in the top positions with Eastpoint’s Sam Hanley now the top ranked Senior in the country following his win at the Senior Classification. Following hot on his heels is the in-form Paul McCreery from the Glenburn TTC. This represents a big jump for both players, with Hanley moving from No.7 and McCreery moving up from No.10. With both players also still available for selection for the Irish Junior team for the coming season, this is a fantastic achievement to top the Senior Rankings.
In the Butterfly National Women’s rankings, its a different story with Rita Kacsandi maintaining her top ranked position and continuing her prolonged period of dominance. She has a cohort of talented young players hot on her heels however, led by Ulster’s Amanda Mogey, with Claire Nelson, Sara Dolan and Ashley Givan all also in pursuit. Claire Nelson is the big mover up to 3rd position from No.6 and she will look to pressure Mogey and Kacsandi as the season progresses.
Check out the Rankings section of the site to download full ranking lists
Senior 6 Nations: Singles Event
Sunday 4th October saw the individual event of the Senior 6 Nations. The highlight for the Irish was Amanda Mogey who claimed a bronze medal following some excellent performances. Mogey was drawn against Irish team-mate Claire Nelson in the quarter-finals and the pair who are so familiar with each others games played out 5 sets of fascinating table tennis, with Mogey eventually claiming a semi-final spot with some assured play in the final set. In the semi-final she came up against England’s Hannah Hicks, who had knocked out Irish youngster Ashley Givan in the quarter final. Givan at her first Senior 6 Nations will be delighted with her last 8 finish, and still a Cadet, she looks to have a glittering career in the game ahead. Mogey took the first set of a closely fought semi-final, but Hicks asserted her authority to take the next 3 sets and progress.
Best for the Irish Men was John Murphy, who also progressed to tje last 8. Here he had a tough opponent in Craig Howieson. Murphy took a 2-1 sets lead and looked on course to make the semi-final. However, Howieson fought back with some clever spin and explosive forehands to eventually bring the game to a final set, where he dominated to win 11-4 and progress. Other notable Irish performances was from veteran Brian Fitzgerald, who took a silver medal in the consolation event.
Key Irish Results
Mens QF: J.Murphy v C.Howieson: 8-11, 14-12, 11-9, 5-11, 4-11
Womens QF: A.Mogey v C.Nelson: 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8
Womens SF: A.Mogey v H.Hicks: 11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-13
In the Mens final, 16 year old Liam Pitchford from England produced a sensational performance to defeat odd-on favourite Ryan Jenkins of Wales. Pitchford from England is a full time player with the English squad based in Sheffield and he was tenacious throughout, belying his inexperience to take his first major Senior International title. In the Ladies event, Naomi Owen was peerless as she stormed through to the Final, taking the Final by 3-0 to claim the Senior 6 Nations title.
Final Results
Mens Final Winner: Liam Pitchford(England bt Ryan Jenkins(wales): 11-4, 7 -11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9
Womens Final Winner: Naomi Owen(Wales) bt H.Hicks England 3-0(11-5, 11-9, 11-3)
Senior 6 Nations: Wales and England Take Team Gold
The Senior 6 Nations Table tennis Championships got off to an explosive start at DCU on Friday night following an Opening Ceremony led by Dublin’s Lord Mayor Emer Costello. Ireland’s men couldn’t have asked for a tougher start, coming up first against one of the tournament favourites Wales.
With the Jenkins brothers leading the Welsh, this was always going to be a difficult match for this Irish team, blending a mix of experience in Brian Fitzgerald and John Murphy and youth in promising talents Sam Hanley and Gavin Maguire. Murphy was first into action for the Irish, taking on Steven Jenkins – Jenkins eventually triumphing after a thrilling 5 set match. This was a topsy-turvy affair from start to finish, Murphy was able to level the match at 2-2 with a great display of attacking table tennis in front of a supportive home crowd, but this was not enough to prevent Jenkins taking the match. National champion Maguire was next in action against Ryan Jenkins who showed his class to take a 3-0 win. Fitzgerald and Murphy then lost the Doubles and Wales emerged 3-0 victors. Ireland then had 2 games against Isle of Man and Guernsey, with Sam Hanley and Brian Fitzgerald getting some match time to come through both matches on a 3-0 scoreline.The crucial games were to come on Saturday against England and Scotland.
Against the English, Murphy and Maguire were selected for the Irish and they certainly did not let favourites England have things their own way. Murphy took a set of Pitchford who would later go on to claim the singles prize, before Maguire almost pulled off a major shock, taking Darius Knight to a 5th set before fading. Knight and Pitchford cmbined well in the Doubles, leaving Ireland with a match against the Scots for the bronze medal. This was an intriguing contest and Murphy gave the Irish the early initiative, defeating Niall Cameron in 4 sets. Maguire was next up and he faced Howieson. Maguire took the 1st set but Howieson fought back to eventually claim the match 3-1. Brian Fitzgerald was paired with Murphy for the Doubles, but in a tight and nervy Doubles contest, the Scots took the match leaviing Murphy to play to keep the Irish in contention for bronze. Unfortunately, Howieson was too strong for the Dubliner and Scotland took the bronze, leaving Ireland in 4th position.
In the Women’s event, Ireland also had a tough challenge in their first game against the Welsh. Amanda Mogey is the top ranked player for the Irish and she was in dominant form taking her match against Angharad Phillips, but this was not enough to prevent the Welsh from recording a 3-1 victory. Wales, driven by the top ranked player in the event, Naomi Owen looked ominously strong. Cadet Ashley Givan and Chesire based Fiona Dennett were introduced for the Isle of Man game and did not let anyone down, claiming a 3-0 victory. Coach Brett reverted to Mogey and Claire Nelson for the Guernsey game in the Singles and they delivered the match, despite Mogey dropping a match to Kay Chivers. So similar to the Men, the Women had critical matches against England and Wales. Again Mogey and Nelson were called into action and they did not disappoint. Following a loss to England, the Ladies regrouped and showed immense talend and maturity to dominate the Scottish match, losing in the Doubles but dominating the singles. This victory secured bronze for the team(pictured with supporter above).
With Ireland playing Scotland for Bronze in both the Mens and Womens event, it was a similar story in the battle for Gold, with England and Wales both in contention. In the Mens, Darius Knight was in top form, defeating both Ryan and Steven Jenkins to deliver Gold for England. In the Womens event, Naomi Owen showed her class in a similar fashion, taking her 2 singles and assisting in a Doubles win to claim gold for Wales.
ITTA Technical Director John O’Donoghues was satisfied with some of the Irish performances over the weekend, stating;
“Overall, it was a good weekend for our developing young teams. Amanda Mogey in particular playes very well to repeat her bronze medal success of last year, and was unfortunate in her semi-final against Hannah Hicks. We are disappointed not to have taken bronze in the Mens event, but the players will have learned from this experience as we build for the future”
All in all, it was a superb weekend of table tennis in DCU. Many thanks to tournament referee Karen Tonge MBE, Tony Martin and all of their Umpires for their hard work over the weekend. Also thanks to our event sponsors and volunteers who helped make this a memorable weekend for players and spectators.
Maguire and Hanley Eliminated
In their first Senior European Championships, National Senior Champion Gavin Maguire and National Junior Champion Sam Hanley were the last Irish players standing in the 2nd Round of the Men’s Singles Championships. Both faced difficult opponent in the 2nd Round, with Hanley first up against the Swede Robert Svensson and Maguire against Daniel Habesohn of Austria. Habesohn proved to have too much quality for the Maguire taking the match 4 : 0 (7 8 6 1). Habesohn is ranked in the top 100 in Europe and Maguire will have learned some valuable lessons from this match.
Hanley faced an even more difficult task, coming up against the Swede who is ranked 54 in Europe. With Maguire and Hanley hovering around the 600 mark in the European rankings, their challenge was obvious. However, Hanley caused some consternation in the Svensson camp levelling the match at 1:1. Ultimately, Svensson’s experience at this level eventually proved telling and he progressed 4 : 1 (6 -7 2 5 3).
A full summary of the championship with player and coach reaction will follow in the coming days…
ITTA Summer Camp ’09 a Great Success
The ITTA summer camp which took place in the IWA from the 17th to the 20th of August proved a huge success with junior players from various clubs around Leinster gathered in preparation for the new season. The camp was conducted by ITTA Technical Director and Level 3 coach John O’Donoghue who was assisted by top senior players Gavin Maguire, Sam Hanley, Mark O’ Flynn and Maciek Szymanski. Attending the camp were many top under 12 and cadet players of recent years as well as some fresh young faces who we hope to see competing in domestic tournaments over the coming season. The schedule each day consisted of three sessions with training commencing at 10am each morning and concluding at 4pm. The camp gave players the chance to practice with different players of their own age as well as the opportunity to spar with the likes of National Champion Gavin Maguire and newly crowned Senior classification winner and Irish Junior number 1 Sam Hanley. Each player was also given one-to one multiball training with the main emphasis put on improving the players technique.
As well as the successful few days training, the highlight of the week came during the visit of the RTE cameras on Wednesday for a programme to feature on Capital D this Winter. This move was the latest in a number of recent initiatives by the ITTA to promote table tennis in Ireland and attract more people to the sport. Featuring on the programme will be top Irish players Maguire and Hanley as well as blasts from the past such as Colum Slevin and Tommy Caffrey. Away from the elite side will focus on the young hopefuls who were in action over the four days along with the training methods used by the coaches. The programme will also feature a piece on the IWA Social Night, another initiative used by the ITTA in an effort to increase the participation levels in the country. The Social Night took place in Clontarf place over an 8 week periodand has been a great success, with people of all levels and ages coming together to play and improve their games, aided by the coaching of members of the Irish senior squad.
Wednesday Update from Senior Europeans
Following an initial defeat to Lithuania., the Butterfly sponsored Irish team grew in strength and defeated all of the other teams in Group J, including an impressive win over Armenia. Ken Strong is the ITTA Delegate at the Europeans and he described the performance against Armenia as “a particularly focused and awesome display by our young players, capably led by John Murphy and expertly coached by Peter Nilsson”. For Sam Hanley, National Junior Champion and Gavin Maguire, National Senior Champion at 18 years of age, this tournament has been a tremendous experience to date and both have grown stronger and gained more confidence since the first match with Lithuania. With four wins in a row, the Irish progressed to the Promotion Play-Offs.
First up in the play-offs was a strong Netherlands team. The Irish fought hard against their more experienced opponents, but the Dutch took the match on a 3:0 score line. That left the team with one match to secure promotion and perhaps gain revenge over the Lithuanians. With everything at stake, the Lithuanians surged into an early lead with Maguire and Murphy losing to Martinkus and Domeika respectively. The Irish did not lie down however, and Sam Hanley produced a fantastic performance to defeat Udra and Murphy levelling the tie at 2:2 against Martinkus. That left Maguire in the pressure-cooker situation of having to defeat Domeika to secure promotion. This looked a tall order but Maguire produced some scintillating table tennis to take the match to 5 sets and was unfortunate to eventually lose the final set 12:10 having saved 3 match points.
Ireland then just missed out on promotion but showed encouraging signs and great battling qualities.
In today’s Singles, John Murphy lost in the First Round against Denmark’s Ka Sternberg 4:1. Sam Hanley progressed to the 2nd Round with a 4:2 victory over Tentoni from San Marino. He will face Sweden’s Robert Svensson in tomorrow’s 2nd Round. Gavin Maguire defeated Bosnia’s Alec 4:2 in an epic encounter
| 9:11 | 8:11 | 17:19 | 14:12 | 11:9 | 9:11 |
and will face Austrian Daniel Habesohn in tomorrow’s 2nd Round. These are two fantastic results from Hanley and Maguire in their first Senior Europeans and we wish them all the best in their 2nd Round games tomorrow.
In the Doubles event, Maguire is partnered with Finn Toni Soine – they produced an excellent win in the 1st Round, defeating a Kosovan duo and will now face OVTCHAROV and STEGER of Germany in the 2nd Round. Hanley and Murphy lost out to a Slovenian duo in the 1st Round.
Devanney Takes Double Gold for Veterans
A strong Irish team produced some excellent results in the recent Six Nations Veterans Tournaments, hosted this year by the Isle of Man. In the Team events, bronze medals were secured by the Men in the Over 40s, Over 60s and Over 70s events, with the both Over 50s Men and Women taking silver. In the Individual events, Teresa Devaney produced a fantastic performance to retain her individual title, defeating Di Brooks from England in the Final and also taking the Doubles title with partner Jenny Harrison. Speaking to ITTAWeb, CYM Terenure’s Devanney was understandably thrilled:
“I was delighted to be part of a strong Irish squad all of whom performed very well. In particular, Sharon Brien and Susan Murphy did well to reach the Semi-Finals of the Over 40s. I am delighted to win the two golds – Jenny Harrison performed really well in the Doubles with me to cap off a great weekend”
Congratulations to all players on a successful event – Kariem Sabir has provided full Irish results below:
Over 40s Men’s: third place
Over 50s Men’s: second place sliver medals
Over 60s Men’s: third place
Over 70s Men’s: third place
Ladies over 50s: second place sliver medals
Sunday tournament
Over 40s: Terry Dolan lost Q/final
Over 50s: kariem sabir lost Q/final
Over 50s: Doubles kariem sabir James sterling lost S/final
Over 60s: Tommy Caffrey lost S/final
Ladies over 50s: Teresa Devaney gold medals
Ladies over 50s: Doubles Teresa Devaney jenny Harrison gold medals
Ladies over 40s: Helen Dolan lost Q/final
Ladies over 40s: Susan Murphy lost S/final
Ladies over 40s: Sharon Gibbons Lost S/final
Ladies over 40s: Doubles Helen Dolan Susan Murphy lost S/final
Plate Result over 70s: Ted Mahaffey gold Tom Burke silver
Over 50s: Philip Shaw gold Barry Dickson silver
Junior Classification Results
8 events, 175 players and two enthralling days of table tennis saw the launch of the 09/10 domestic Junior table tennis circuit at DCU, Dublin last weekend…
The Stiga Irish Junior Classification launched the season in style with some great matches, the emergence of some new players and the continued dominance of some familiar faces.
Under 17 Boys
Paul McCreery was the favourite going into the event following some good form recently at Senior level and some excellent performances at the European Youths. He justified his favourite tag with some commanding performances as he cruised the title, defeating an impressive Ashley Robinson in the Final. Declan O’Brien came from 6th seed to take 3rd place, defeating 2nd seed Sam Logue en route to the semi-finals.
Under 14 Boys
This weekend saw the emergenence of Club Donic’s Zhao Li, who impressed at Under 17 level before completely dominating the Under 14 competition to take the Cadet title. His opponent in the Final was Ryan Farrell, who produced some big performances to progress, including a fantastic 3-1 victory over Ulster’s Neil Irwin in the semi-final. In the 3/4 match, Irwin eventually took 3rd place following a typically hard fought match with Kevin Hutchinson of York Road TTC. Hutchinson, still eligible at Under 12 level, showed much promise however and will be happy with 4th place.
Under 12 Boys
In possibly the match of the tournament late on Saturday evening, Jonathan Porter of Clogher and Kevin Hutchinson went head to head in the Under 12 Final and thrilled a big crowd with a fantatic display of attacking table tennis. In a tense 5 setter which swung one way and then the other, Porter eventually took the title. No doubt these two players will meet again later in the season and there is little to seperate them.
Under 17/Under 14 Girls
In the Girls’ events, once again the story of the weekend was Ashley Givan of Clogher TTC. Installed as the top seed in both the Cadet and Junior events, she once again saw off all opponents to emerge triumphant with two titles to kick off her domestic season in style. For her opponents, its back to the drawing board to find some way to defeat Givan. Rebecca Kenny returned from a recent injury to take 2nd place in the Juniors and will hope for an injury free season to allow her to take that next step, while a battling Edel O’Reilly from Ballincollig TTC had to also settle for 2nd place in the Cadets
Under 12 Girls
There is some depth in talent at this level of Irish table tennis at the moment, evidenced by the final pairing of Laura Finn and Katie McGlone, who were both outside of the top seeds. Glenburn TTC’s Finn took the title in an impressive display over McGlone, who also looks to have the makings of a very good player at this level. Sarah Cooney of Ballincollig TTC was also impressive to take 3rd place.
Under 10 Boys/Girls
A bigger entry than usual at Under 10 level with the focus of the organisers’ to provide as many games as possible to these little stars! Playing the game ina fun environment, they all appeared to have a great day – for some it was their first major tt tournament. Ross McGarry of York Road and Rebecca Finn of Glenburn TTC took the titles – but at this level the emphasis is very much on encouraging the players to enjoy their day’s play.
Event Summary
This was a great weekend of table tennis – with two rounds of round-robin and a plate competition, all players were guaranteed a large number of games. 175 players travelled from all over the country to take part, which is a positive indicator to the progress being made in developing underage table tennis in Ireland. As always, these events could not happen without the hard work of volunteers. So thanks go to the Leinster Branch, Richard Butler, John O’Donoghue, Shay Logue, John McGlone, Anna Kelly, Tony Martin, Joe Finnegan, Ian Erskine and all of the Umpires for their hard work in ensuring the tournament ran as smoothly as possible. Con O’Ceadaigh also performed wonders at the control desk over two long days – without volunteers like this these events simply would not take place. ITTAWeb eagerly awaits the next major Junior event, the Leinster Grand Prix.
Irish Junior Classification at DCU, Glasnevin on 12th and 13th September
Junior Boys Junior Girls
1st P.McCreery 1st A.Givan
2nd A.Robinson 2nd R Kenny
3rd D.O’Brien 3rd S Timlin
Cadet Boys Cadet Girls
1st Z.Li 1st A Givan
2nd R.Farrell 2nd E O’Reilly
3rd N.Irwin 3rd E Burns
U12 Boys U12 Girls
1st J.Porter 1st L Finn
2nd K.Hutchinson 2nd K McGlone
3rd E.Sheckleton 3rd S Cooney
U10 Boys U 10 Girls
1st R.McGarry 1st R Finn
2nd D.Mullally 2nd K Hayes
3rd M.William 3rd K O’Toole
Halpin Makes Debut at UK School Games
The prestigious UK School Games took place in Cardiff this year 3-7 September. This is a multi-sport event for school athletes run in much the same way as the Olympic Games. This year ten sports competed: Athletics, Badminton, Fencing, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Swimming, Table Tennis, Track Cycling, and Volleyball. Each sport approaches the organisation of its event in a different way, but Table Tennis elects to divide into 8 teams, 5 from the English regions and 1 each from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In Table Tennis the team events are for Boys teams and Girls teams, together with individual Disability events. Northern Ireland has entered Table Tennis teams for all of the previous events in Glasgow, Coventry, and Bristol and Bath.
Until now we have entered athletes only in the main team events, but this year, for the first time, we had Stephen Halpin as our entry in the Standing Disability event. Stephen is entering his final GCSE year at Bangor Grammar School. He has a wide range of sporting interests in Soccer, Badminton, Tennis and Table Tennis, and has represented Northern Ireland at Soccer. Indeed, Stephen would ideally like to get into a career that involves sport. He has been encouraged in his sporting interests by his father Bryan, and more recently he has been undergoing an extensive training and coaching programme with Ulster Regional Development Officer, Amanda Mogey, and made exceptional progress.
Stephen went to Cardiff as a complete beginner in competitive Table Tennis, and was naturally nervous in his first match. Well, 2 games down, he listened and learned from his coach and came out a 3-2 winner. His next match was against Krysten Coombs from England, the recent winner of the World Dwarf Games title in Belfast, and had a very creditable 4-11, 7-11, 6-11 result ensued. The rest of the group matches resulted in a loss against a very experienced English player, and a tight win against his final opponent. This put Stephen into the 5-8 play-off, where, with the noisy support of the rest of the Northern Ireland team, he won his remaining matches to come 5th. Remembering that he was in his first event, and that he was beaten only by players with considerable tournament experience, this was a fantastic result, and bodes well for the future. Maybe in the next year or two he can emulate Paul McCreery and the Boys’ team and come home with a UK School Games Medal.
At the UK School Games, Table Tennis is encouraging events in the Standing, Wheelchair, and Learning Disability categories. Competitors have to be Under 19 in the year of competition. Table Tennis Ulster and the Ulster Schools Table Tennis Association would like to encourage more participants both for the School Games and for domestic competitions. Anyone who seeks further information can contact the Table Tennis Ulster office at 02890 383811. Other information about Table Tennis is available on the website www.irishtabletennis.com/itta/ulster.
Tony Phillips
Ulster Schools’ Secretary
Northern Ireland Team Manager