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Veteran’s Leinster Open Report 2022

The Veterans Leinster Open took place on the 15th of October in Palmerstown Sports Centre. A great event took place, with plenty of exciting table tennis!

Well done to all the players, coaches and officials for a very successful 2022 Veteran’s Leinster Open.

Report available below:

Ladies  

The ladies competition was divided into 2 groups. In Group A Oksana won all her matches in straight sets. Ger Green beat Sharon in a closely fought 4 sets.She also beat Renata in 4 sets. Sharon beat Renata and Chui Lin in straight sets. Renata beat Chui Lin in straight sets although set 3 was won in duece. Group B was closely fought. Rita had wins over Teresa, Renata and Ann-Marie in straight sets but against Susan it went to a 4th set. Susan won in straight sets against Renata and Teresa. Her match with Ann-Marie went the full distance with Susan winning set 5 in deuce. Teresa had a 3 sets win against Renata. In the semi final Oksana proved too strong for Susan and won in 3 sets. In the other semi final Rita was too strong for Ger and also won in 3 sets. In the final Rita and Oksana met for the second time on the day and this occasion Rita got the upper hand and won in a very close 5 sets. 

Mens 40’s 

In the round of 16 Pat McCloughan won in 3 sets over Phil Wallace. Oksana and Rita met again and Oksana proved the stronger and won in 5 sets. Robbie Gavin beat Dermot Tierney in 4 sets. Tibor also had a 4 sets win over Paul Gallagher. Eduardo beat Mark McAlister in 5 sets. In the Qtr’s Oleg beat Pat in straight sets. John Bowe had a hard fought 4 sets win over Oksana. Tibor proved too strong for Robbie. It was similar for Eduardo who beat Rory Scott in 3 sets. In the semi final Oleg again won in straight sets, this time against John Bowe. Eduardo won in a closely fought 3 sets over Tibor. Oleg beat Eduardo in 4 sets in the final. 

Mens 50’s 

In the round of 16 Dave Gibbons won in 3 sets over Gus Agnew. Philip Shaw beat Branko in 4 sets. Pat McCloughan won easily in 3 sets over Tommy Fitzgerald. Sean McAnaney also won easily over Yuri Pavlon. Mark McAlister won in 4 sets over Kieron Burke. Paul Gallagher also won in 4 over Jeremy Lappin. In the qtr’s Tibor beat Dave Gibbons in 4 sets. Pat beat Philip in 4 sets but sets 1 and 2 were very tight. Sean beat Mark in 4 close sets. Paul beat Des Flanagan in a close 5 sets in the battle of Donegal. In the semi final Tibor met Pat but Tibor proved the stronger to win in 4 sets. In yet another Donegal clash Sean beat Paul in a very tight 4 sets. This set up a rematch in the final between Tibor and Sean. On this occasion Tibor was too strong and won in 4 sets. 

Mens 60’s 

Kieron won in 4 sets over Brian Finn in the round of 16. Torsten had a closely fought 4 sets win over Brandan O’Fiach. Tommy Fitzgerald also won in 4 sets over Jeremy Lappin. Fergal O’Hagan beat Ken Peare in 4 sets. In the qtr’s Tommy Caffrey again met old rival Kieron Burke but on this occasion Kieron reversed the result of the last competition to win in 5 sets. Philip Shaw won in a very closely fought 5 sets over Torsten. Sean McAnaney beat Tommy Fitzgerald in 3 sets. Fergal caused a bit of an upset with his 5 sets victory over Terry Dolan. In the semi final Philip won easily in 3 sets over Kieron. Sean was too strong for Fergal and set up a final against Philip. Sean looked very much the winner and raced to a 2 sets lead but Philip fought back to gain a well earned win in 5 sets. 

Mens 70’s 

In the qtr’s top seed Brian Finn beat Albert Coulter in 3 sets. Shay O’Reilly proved too strong to win in 5 sets over David Jacobson. Jack O’Meara caused an upset with a deserved 4 sets win over Jim Storey. Tommy Caffrey won in straight sets over Norman Nabney. Brian continued his good form to win his semi final over Shay in 3 sets. Jack gave Tommy a fright but Tommy came out on top in 4 sets. 

Brian and Tommy met again in the final and similar to the last competition it went the full distance with Brian again proving the stronger to win a very tight 5 setter. 

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Women in Sport – Coaching Conference on Saturday 3rd of December 2022

Sport Ireland are hosting an upcoming Women in Sport Coaching Conference, taking place on Saturday 3rd December from 9.45 – 4.00pm in the Grand Hotel Malahide. The conference has limited capacity, so register ASAP if you wish to attend. Registration has now opened to NGB’s and Sport Ireland will start promoting to the wider general public from Thursday 27th October.

Cost of registration is only €15. All attendees will receive a conference pack on arrival and free lunch will be provided.

To register to attend the Sport Ireland Women in Sport Coaching Conference please click here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/women-in-sport-coaching-conference-tickets-441495865017

The conference is targeting female coaches, and male coaches of female athletes/teams, from teenage to adult level and will include a day of presentations, panel discussions and breakout sessions. Those in attendance can expect to hear from Irish and International keynote speakers, coaches and coaching professionals who will share their knowledge and tips to unlocking potential and creating environments where their athletes flourish. Talks/workshops on the day include:

  • Creating environments for athletes to flourish
  • Coaching teenage girls
  • Nutrition and menstrual cycle and the female athlete
  • Creating psychological safety in your training group
  • Creating the right culture
  • Coaching high-performance athletes
  • Plus, more topics on the day

Speakers already confirmed for the day include;

  1. Gail Donohue – A former national-level synchronized swimmer, Olympic and current coach, holds a science degree in kinesiology and is a Chartered Professional Coach. In addition, she is a Coach Developer and Coach Evaluator and has previously worked with the Canadian Institute of Sport around the well-being of high-performance coaches and on effective ways sport organizations can maintain positive relationships with their coaches.
  2. Sharon Madigan – Head of Nutrition for the Sport Ireland Institute since 2010 with responsibility for the co-ordination of nutrition support services to elite athletes and to a number of National Governing Bodies, for example, boxing, rowing, athletics, judo and cricket. Sharon also supervises research being undertaken on the topic of menstruation and sport and is an expert when it comes to the female athlete, nutrition and menstrual cycle.
  3. Greg McWilliams – Ireland Women’s Rugby Team Head Coach joins us for a panel discussion to talk through his methods of working with athletes to enhance their playing ability and enabling them to flourish.
  4. Sarah Kelleher – A former Ireland Hockey International captain with 127 caps, Sarah is coaching with the Irish Women’s Hockey team having previously coached the England U18 squads. Sarah will share her philosophy toward a flourishing model of coaching that truly looks at the holistic development of people, creating environments that allow individuals, teams and organisations to flourish.
  5. David Malone – Four-time Paralympian and gold medalist in the Sydney Paralympic Games. David is Performance Director for Paralympics Ireland and Head of Paraswimming. He is coach to a number of athletes, including Ellen Keane and was recently named Swim Ireland Performance Coach of the Year.

More speakers to be announced in the coming weeks, keep an eye out on Sport Ireland’s Social Medias.

Make sure to register for this event ASAP. Don’t miss out on this exciting conference.

We hope to see some of our table tennis coaches at this fantastic event and opportunity.

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Senior Men at the European Men’s Championships Qualifiers

Our Irish Men’s Team of Owen Cathcart, Thomas Davis and Alexander Gillen alongside NPC Paul McCreery flew out to Sarajevo to compete in the European Men’s Championships Qualifiers from the 14th –  17th of October. This event is one of the most prestigious competitions in Europe for our players. 

The Men’s Team had a tough but exciting draw, meeting Netherlands and Norway. The top 2 in the group progressed to Stage 2. The last spots were up for grabs for all teams, so it was all to play for. 

There were some close games and matches in the opening round of matches vs the Netherlands, starting at 11am. First up, was Alex against VAN OOST in the opening game of the campaign. Alex Gillen was beaten 3-1 vs the Dutch opponent. Owen Cathcart fought hard, winning his first game in 3-0 leveling up the match. Tom Davis on his Senior debut for Ireland was up next, and he came close to beating DE BOER, but coming just short of a 2-3 defeat in an intense game. Owen followed Tom, and with another fantastic victory he tied the match at 2-2, Alex Gillen went toe-to-toe with CAMARA, but the Dutch came out with a 3-2-win vs Alex in a great game which could have gone either way. The team put up a good fight against the Netherlands but couldn’t secure a win as the Netherlands came out with a close fought 2-3 win.  

Coach Paul McCreery had to get the boys in line again, as they faced the Norway Squad later in the evening on that same day. Owen Cathcart stepped up first against RØNNEBERG, after a fantastic performance, Owen secured a superb 3-1 win.  In the remaining 3 games that followed in the respective order of Alex (vs Borgar Haug), Tom (vs Alexander Fransson), and Owen (vs Borgar Haug) were all beaten 0-3 in their games. The Norwegian team came out on top with a 3-1-win vs Ireland. Norway had a very strong No.1 in Borgar Haug who showed up in full form against us after uncharacteristically losing his game against Holland. 

Team Ireland competed extremely well, with some close games throughout. The team were very unlucky to have not qualified, Holland finished top in the group and beat Norway 3-0, we were only one set away from beating Holland showing how competitive this qualifier was. The team have now shown that we are in the right direction and we can compete amongst Europe’s best.  

Overall, a great weekend of Table Tennis from the Irish Men’s Team with great performances from all of our players. Ireland have not qualified for the European Team Championships in Malmo in 2023 and will now begin to plan and build for the next phase of qualification events. 

Well done to Owen, Tom, Alex and Paul on representing Ireland fantastically well and doing our country proud in Sarajevo.  

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PEADAR BATTLES IN BLEGNY

Coach Conn Higgins & Peadar Sheridan

Peadar Sheridan has had another phenomenal weekend, finishing 6th at the 2022 Stiga Masters Minimes in Blegny, Belgium.

After a week spent training in Otočec, Slovenia, Peadar and Irish national coach Conn Higgins travelled to Belgium for the 15th edition of the Stiga Masters Minimes.  This is a long-running event that brings together the top 14 Under 11 finishers from the same year’s Eurominichamps, where Peadar placed 12th.

The group stage on Saturday saw Peadar firstly lose to top seed Andrej MORAVEK (Czech Republic) 1-3, then win against Alexandru POP (Romania) 3-1, before losing again to Romeo MULLER (France) 1-3.  After the interval he had a narrow loss to Pietro ANDREOLI (Italy) 2-3 followed by two wins over Roger QUESEDA (Spain) 3-2 and Bryan ZHANG (Belgium) 3-1.

The Last 16 draw on Sunday saw Peadar come up against Emil ELLERMAN (Sweden) who he defeated 3-0.  This set up another encounter with Roger QUESEDA (Spain) in the quarter-finals.  Having beaten QUESEDA in the group stages hopes were high, but this time it was not to be with QUESEDA overpowering him 3-0.

In the play-offs for 5th to 8th place Peadar defeated Tobias FABIAN (Czech Republic) 3-1 then lost David TORO (Romania) 0-3 to finish in 6th place.

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Wicklow Table Tennis Roadshow

Wicklow Sports and Recreation Partnership together with Table Tennis Ireland are holding a table tennis exhibition in Arklow Sports Hub on Thursday 10th November from 7pm to 8.30 pm. 

Our very own, Jing Yi Graham will be delivering an exhibition of skills and tips on the night. All standards of players are welcome to attend. Beginners, recreational, intermediate, and advanced players will be catered for.

We are inviting all table tennis clubs and players from County Wicklow to come and join the session.

Register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/table-tennis-exhibition-at-arklow-sports-centre-10th-november-730pm-tickets-443182178827

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Coaching Course – 19th of November in Ballymun


We are delighted to announce that we are hosting an introductory coaching course, known as the “Teachers Award” in November in Ballymun.

This course will take place in Trinity Comprehensive, Ballymum Dublin. The course will be taking place on Saturday 19th of November 11am – 2pm.

The cost for the course has been subsidized by Table Tennis Ireland and will cost €30 per person. Coaches will all receive a coaching manual to assist with coaching going forward. Coaches will also receive a coaching certificate on completion of the course.

The teachers award course requires a lot of engagement and practical work in order to develop basic knowledge and skills for coaching table tennis.

You do not need to have a background in playing table tennis. This course is a fun and enjoyable course suitable for all everyone including parents, teachers, older adults, multi-sport coaches, club administrators and any with any interest in sport and physical activity.

Places for the course are limited so register now before the course is filled. Register here: https://tti.justgo.com/workbench/public/events?ref=1B632046F78D64E933FA12F576F235DB2D197491

If you have any questions on the course, please email [email protected]

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The Robinson’s Ice Cream Ulster Open Table Tennis Championships 2022

The Robinson’s Ice Cream 2022 Ulster Open Table Tennis Championships will take place on the 26th and 27th November at Lisburn Racquets Club, 36 Belfast Road, Lisburn BT27 4AS.

All players and coaches are advised to read the Entry Form for full details on the events taking place and the tournament regulations. Players are reminded that they must be affiliated to Table Tennis Ireland, or an Association recognised by the ITTF.

The Board of Table Tennis Ireland wish to support the return to play of both new and past members at ranking events. We are delighted to announce we are introducing a Single Event Licence fee of €5.75/£5 for upcoming ranking events taking place this season. We hope that this will encourage players to participate in ranking events this season.

To join Table Tennis Ireland, please click on the following link https://tti.justgo.com/Account.mvc/Login

If you have any queries on membership, please email [email protected] 

Entries are now open through Eventbrite (link below) and Entries will close Friday 18th November 2022 at 11.00pm. Late entries will not be accepted, and all fees must be paid in advance.

Prizemoney: Men and Women Open Singles winners – 1st place £500, runner up £250.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-robinsons-ice-cream-ulster-open-table-tennis-championships-2022-tickets-439975808487

Provisional Event Times:

Event Queries to: [email protected]

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Glenburn Masters 12th November

The Irish Veterans Table Tennis Society’s Glenburn Masters Tournament is taking place on Saturday the 12th of November 2022 in GLENBURN TTC, Glensharragh Park, Belfast BT6 9PB

Event Timetable
● Over 40’s singles Commence 10:00
● Over 50’s singles Commence 14:00
● Over 60’s singles Commence 09:30
● Over 70’s singles Commence 15:30
● Ladies singles Commence 13:30

Competition entry fees are €12 per event. Payment of entry to be paid to A/C below:

  • Sterling to – AIB A/C 28386096, Sort Code 938270
  • Euro to- IBAN: IE28 AIBK 93357066 1280 10 (BIC: AIBKIE2D)

Participants can register by email or text no later than Saturday 5th November 2022.
Email: [email protected] Text: 00 44 7710185566


CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: SATURDAY 5th of November, 2022

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PingPong FITT – Women in Sport Session

We are hosting a FREE of charge, women in sport session for all ages and abilities on Saturday the 15th of October from 3-5pm in Loop Table Tennis Club, Dublin.

Come join us and female lead Co-Ordinator Jing Yi Graham and take part in our fun PingPong FITT programme. This will be an exciting session, which will provide the chance for everyone to meet more females within our sport and enjoy table tennis. Pop in and play some table tennis and learn from Coach Jing Yi Graham. Feel free to bring along as many friends and family to join in, everybody is welcome.

This session is open to all ages and abilities, come and give table tennis a try. You do not need to have any experience in table tennis, assistance and equipment will be available on the day. Don’t miss out! We hope to see you there!

For more information on this session, please email [email protected] and [email protected]

#WomenInSportIRE

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County Antrim Senior and Masters Open Tournament 2022

County Antrim are hosting a Senior and Masters Open Tournament on Saturday 5th of November in Ballymena Academy 89 Galgorm Road, Ballymena, BT42 1AJ.

  1. County Antrim Masters (40+ and 60+ events)  

Round 1 Round Robin 

9.30 am to 12 noon 

Round 2 Knockout  

12.00 noon – 2 pm 

2. County Antrim Senior Open  

Round 1 Round Robin 

1.30 pm to 4.00 pm. 

Round 2 Knockout 

4.00 pm to 6.00 pm. 

Prize Distribution 

6 pm 

Entries are now open, and entries must be received by Tuesday 1st November 2022. Entry form below, is to be emailed to [email protected].

Please find attached the entry form for the County Antrim Open and Veterans TT events hosted by Ballymena TTC.

Any queries, please direct them to Norman McBride: Tel: 078419 06589 E-mail: [email protected]