We are pleased to advise that Robbie has been looked after in St. Vincents University Hospital and St. James’ Hospital, and is expected to make a full recovery.
Our thanks go to the UCD and TTI First Responders who were able to care for Robbie until paramedic staff arrived. We wish Robbie well for a full recovery, and will doubtless see him again soon at an event.
Colin Judge in action
This year will see Colin Judge embark on a qualification campaign all around the world in an attempt to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Colin has 3 missing limbs and Table Tennis is the sport that gave him an outlet through some very difficult times. His dream is to represent Ireland and win a medal at the next Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020!
The typical costs for an athlete to help prepare, travel, compete, qualify and participate in the Paralympics would be in the €40,000. Giving Colin any bit of help, no matter how big or small, can really help take the pressure off Colin and his family in a very important year.
Here is the LINK to the GoFundMe page:
Pictured are Owen Cathcart (Men’s Singles Champion), Ken Strong (President) and Sophie Earley (Ladies Singles Champion)
The Irish National Championships, supported by Joola, took place in Lisburn 1-3 March 2019. There were 18 National titles on offer, with keen competition and an open field in many of the categories.
The Ladies Singles for the Ladies Limberg Cup began on Friday night, continuing on Saturday, however it was no real surprise that the event boiled down to the top two seeds, defending Champion Mia O’Rahilly-Egan (Griffeen Valley) and up and coming cadet Sophie Earley (Ormeau). Youth won out over experience, as Earley took a first Senior National title ahead of O’Rahilly-Egan, Zofia Wawrzyniak (Leeside) and Rebecca Finn (Glenburn) finishing as bronze medallists. Ladies Doubles National Champions are O’Rahilly-Egan & Wawrzyniak, who overcame the challenge of Sabina Devereux (Wexford) and Claire Heller (Dun Laoire).
Unfortunately for the Dublin girl, it was the same story in the U21 Ladies, as Earley again held firm to take the National U21 Ladies Champion title ahead of O’Rahilly-Egan. Earley became the first winner of the new U21 National Shield named in honour of Pat O’Brien, and which will also have all past winners names engraved on it.
The Junior Girls National Champion title also went the way of young Earley, with O’Rahilly-Egan again, despite a tight 3-2 match, on the wrong end of the scoreline, with Pravesha Ragi (Loop) and Lucy Craig (Glenburn) earning bronze. Ragi teamed up with Silke Heinen (Leeside) to take the National Junior Girls Doubles Champion title ahead of Lucy Craig and Lucy Johnston (both Glenburn).
In the Cadet Girls, surprise finalist Lucy McIvor (Ormeau) was unable to get past the solid control and defence of Silke Heinen, as the Cork girl took her first Cadet Girls National Champion title, Ragi and Nicole Larmour (Banbridge) taking bronze. Cadet Doubles went the same way as the Junior Doubles title, as Heinen and Ragi teamed up again, taking the National title ahead of Anna Kelly and Lucy McIvor (both Ormeau).
Mini Cadet Girls saw Emily Flynn(Unattached) emerge as Mini Cadet Girls National Champion ahead of Rachel Taylor (Bunninadden), bronze medallists Anjali Singh (Ormeau) and Ruta Miliute(Bunninadden).
The Mens Singles also saw a new name on the Mens Limberg Cup, with Owen Cathcart (Ormeau) travelling home from full time training in Sweden to take the win in what was also his first Senior final. Cathcart became the first player to complete the set of the male singles titles – Mini Cadet, Cadet, Junior and Senior – since the Junior National Championships were restarted in 2005. An exciting final saw Cathcart off to an early lead against defending Champion Gavin Maguire(UCD/Dublin), with a fightback from Maguire not enough to threaten seriously in the match. Bronze medallists were Thomas Earley (Ormeau) and Zak Wilson (Glenburn). Maguire and Alex Gillen (UCD/Dublin) teamed up to take the Mens Doubles, Maguire retaining his title, ahead of Ryan Farrell (DCU) and Wilson.
Even while the Mens Singles final was on, much of the drama in the hall was centred on the U21 Mens Final, where Wilson was seeking to reclaim the title he won in 2016 and 2017, while Tom Davis (UCD/Dublin) was desperately seeking to retain his 2018 crown, and become the first winner of the new U21 Shield, named in honour of Tony Martin. Davis and Wilson displayed all of their renowned battling abilities, however it was Davis who emerged victorious on a 3-2 scoreline, Thomas Earley and Alex Gillen earning bronze.
The Junior Boys was perhaps the only event where the winner could have come from almost anywhere, with danger right down the Top 8 seedings and even beyond. In the end however it was a repeat of last years Junior Boys final, with Alan Pattison (UCD/Dublin) emerging as National Junior Champion ahead of defending Champion (Art McLaughlin (UCD/Dublin) on a 3-2 scoreline, with Kristijonas Dapkus (Bunninadden) and Conor Nugent (Ormeau) finishing in bronze. Junior Doubles saw McLaughlin and Dillon Byrne (UCD/Dublin) reprise their Champion Cadet pairing from 2018 to take the title ahead of Dapkus and David Taylor (Bunninadden).
Cadet Boys saw surprises and upsets across the draw, with the one constant being eventual Champion Dillon Byrne who took the National Cadet Champion title against clubmate and surprise finalist Maitiu Heckmann (UCD/Dublin), with Tom Colvin (Craigavon) and Joe Sheard (Craigavon) taking the bronze. In Cadet Doubles, Byrne & Heckmann teamed up to take the National title ahead of Jonathan Mooney & Max Skelton (both Ormeau), Byrne defending his title from 2018.
In Mini Cadet, Gellert Moravcsik went unbeaten for the season at this level, winning 5 tournaments from 5, taking the Mini Cadet National Champion title ahead of silver medallist Tom Irwin (Dungannon), bronze medallists Fionn Hickey (UCD/Dublin) and Ben Watson (Ormeau).
The Veterans title went to Daryl Strong ahead of long time team mate Phil Wallace (both Ormeau), while the Restricted Singles title went to Rodney McKirgan (Dungannon) ahead of James Magrath (Glenburn).
Finally, the Mixed Doubles National Championship went the way of defending Champion Gavin Maguire, who teamed up with Sophie Earley, defeating Alex Gillen and Mia O’Rahilly Egan.
Please click HERE for the full list of results.
Sophie Earley in action
Table Tennis Ireland sent a Cadet Girls team consisting of Sophie Earley(Ormeau), Silke Heinen (Leeside) and Pravesha Ragi (Loop) to this event. Owen Cathcart (Halmstad BTK/Ormeau) who has now relocated to Sweden was also in action throughout the 5 days.
Owen Cathcart kicked off his campaign early on the Wednesday playing in the Junior Boys singles taking strong wins over Emborg (DEN) 3-0 and Rustemovski (MKD). Next up for Cathcart was the main draw and last 64 of the boys singles where he faced Moullet (SUI) and again in a convincing style he put together a serious 4-1 performance. As the ITTF Junior boys took a pause in the main draw it was time for the successful partnership of Cathcart and Borgar Haug (NOR) to team up again as the tournament 7th seeds. The lads cruised through their first two matches with a 3-0 win over Italy, 3-1 win over USA and finally an impressive 3-1 win against a Singapore team in the Last 16. This brought a successful finish on day one for Cathcart and Haug.
Thursday brought Knockout stages in both the singles and doubles and Cathcart was fired up to progress in the event. In the doubles quarterfinals, the combined IRL/NOR team faced Puppo and Rossi from Italy and this proved to be an epic game going to the wire and pipping the Italian duo in the 5th set proceeding to a guarantee medal spot. In the semifinals it was a classic Cathcart/Haug encounter with the experienced pair winning the first and fourth sets against ranked Singapore players Chua/Yu; only to see them take match points in the deciding game. This time it wasn’t to be as the Singapore pair mounted a comeback to clinch the match 13-11 in the final game. Another fantastic achievement from both players and again showing class gaining another medal in a top ITTF Junior event.
In the Junior Boys Last 16, Cathcart tuned back into singles mode and prepped himself for a tough game against Zong (SGP). Cathcart made a strong start in this match and showed his experience to fire home an epic 4-1 victory and book himself into the quarter-final stages of the Swedish Junior Open. With already 19 ITTF pro tour medals to his name, Cathcart was pushing to get into the winner’s enclosure once again but it was one step too far against the experienced and highly ranked Stomper from Germany, with Ireland going down 1-4. Massive congratulations to Owen on another remarkable tournament and doing your country and club proud.
The girls started their tournament on the Friday beginning in the morning with matches in the Elite Women’s singles. The Elite Women was a great level with many Japanese, Russian, German and Swedish players in the tournament. This was a tough first test for all the girls, playing against mainly senior ladies who are top-ranked in their countries, but there were some notable performances with Sophie taking Swedish Junior Edvidsson to the fifth end and even leading only to lose in deuce. Silke started very well against another Swede, Johansson, by taking the first end but could not maintain this as the Swede stepped it up in the fifth, but overall good performance.
Later Friday evening it was Sophie Earley that was up to play the ITTF Mini Cadet tournament. The Mini Cadets had a lot of unknown Russian players, and unfortunately for Earley she drew unknown Russian Nizamova in the first match. The game got underway and while Earley battled hard, it was the first match of the evening and she was not firing on all shots, losing out 2-3. Earley was a little disappointed, but managed to shrug this off and set her target on battling through with two good wins against Kalvatin (NOR) and Nilsson (SWE), both 3-0.
Saturday morning saw the Mini Cadets start at the Last 16 stages and Sophie coming second in her group ended up drawing Hannah Goda (EGY), against whom she has had many battles in the past. Goda came out strong in the first two sets and just pipped Earley 9-11 and 9-11 to take the lead 2-0. Earley was as resilient and she fought hard to take the match to the fifth, only to see her Mini Cadet tournament end with another deuce finish.
Next up for the girls on Saturday was the ITTF Cadet Girls event where Heinen and Ragi started in the group stages and Earley, with a high world ranking, had a bye into the main draw. Ragi started her Cadet campaign with two tough matches against a Russian girl and Czech girl; showing good fight and determination she lost these both 1-3 but played very well and kept herself in the mix throughout the matches. Not deterred from her first two losses, Ragi was determined to get a win and this came against the third player in the group, Myklebust from Norway. This game started in the Norwegians favour with her taking the first two sets but a turnaround in the third led to a massive comeback and Ragi winning in the fifth set!
Heinen was next up and again faced a tough international group with first singles against Soderlund (SWE) and this proved to be a great game with Heinen showing her mix of defence and attack to hold the game and take the win in the fifth. Next up for Silke was Pugovking (RUS) where the Russian showed just too much firepower, Heinene losing out 0-3. The final match of the group was against Marriot (England) and this was a must-win game in order to make the KO stages of the ITTF Cadets. Heinen in this match played very well on the defence and her defensive skills proved too strong for the English national team player, emerging as the winner 3-0 and booking herself a place in the main draw. With Earley and Heinen through to the main draw, it was Heinen up first with a last 64 game against Voronina (RUS). Again, this was a tough match against another strong Russian player and it was the Russian who came off the winner this time, Heinen finishing her interest in the event on a 0-3 scoreline. Earley started her Cadet event in the last 32 stages against Pyaterikova where she was on top from the start to win this game in convincing style 3-0 and move into the last 16. Next up for Sophie was Dmitrienko (RUS) which was a very close affair with may topspin to topspin rallies only to eventually go in the Russians favour, Earley losing out 0-3. This was overall an excellent for the three girls and a great result for Sophie Earley to finish in the Top 16 positions of an International ITTF ranking event.
Heinen and Ragi both competed in the Safir U18 and Safir U16 events which were difficult as it was straight KO; Heinen was unable to progress from two tough first-round matches against a Russian and a girl from Singapore. Ragi got another win over Norweign Myklebust in the U16 girls and then set up a tie against Vasilenka (RUS), losing out 0-3, which concluded her events. Last player standing in the Irish contingent was Sophie Earley who had the Safir U14 event to play on Sunday morning. Earley again got better as the tournament went on, starting well with a 3-0 win over Marriot (ENG) in the last 32, followed by Stotz (GER) 3-0 in the last 16. At Quarter Final stage Earley faced the tough USA opponent Zhu which again turned out to be a very close encounter with Earley battling hard but losing out 1-3!
Very good show from the Irish contingent with Owen Cathcart leading the way again bringing further success in the ITTF Junior event winning a bronze medal in the Junior Boys Doubles with partner Borgar (Norway) and finishing with a Top 8 finish in the Junior Boys singles! Well done to Owen who has been working hard on his game in Sweden and glad results are starting to show! Well done to the Cadet Girls squad on their individual performances!
The first morning of action saw the doubles competition. Ireland had three teams in the standing event and one in the wheelchair. The Irish pairings found it difficult facing against teams who clearly had a lot more experience in the tough doubles format but nevertheless each player fought well. The Cork and Dublin duo of Conor and Seán came closest to an Irish victory in the first round with a narrow 3-2 defeat to a Swedish pair. The Junior and Youth Standing and Wheelchair age category events took place in the afternoon. These events combined the Standing classes (6-11) together and the Wheelchair event saw classes 1-5 combined. Mark and Alicia came up against high quality opposition in the Wheelchair event and both competed well but unfortunately were knocked out of their groups. However they were to both meet in the ‘B’ final where Mark came out on top to claim the Gold while Alicia took home Silver. Aaron and Darragh both won Bronze medals after narrow defeats in their “B” Standing semi-finals while Peadar was unfortunate to miss out after defeat in his “B” quarter final. Caoimhe playing the Womens Standing event had some great performances and two victories over Swedish and Danish opponents saw her claim a Bronze medal. Seán and Conor both progressed out of their Standing Junior groups into the quarter finals. Notably Conor, who is Class 6 played three Class 10 players in a row and both lads were unlucky to lose out in the quarters.
The second and final day of the event saw the individual Class events taking place. Mark (Class 4) claimed his second medal of the competition with a Bronze in the “B” event. Alicia (Class 3) would also earn her second medal, a Bronze in her “B” event. Both players fought hard and the experience gained over the weekend will definitely serve them well. Darragh (Class 7) played extremely well and managed to pick up another Bronze after defeat in his “B” semi-final. Two medals in his first international was a great result for the Cork man. Caoimhe (Womens Class 7) had a superb 3-2 victory in her “B” semi-final over her Danish opponent and picked up a Silver medal after narrow defeat in the final. Caoimhe showed great capability and performances in what was only her second international competition. Aaron (Class 11) had terrific results and managed to top his first round group. He guaranteed himself a Bronze by comfortably winning his quarter-final but came just short in his semi-final losing to the eventual winner. It was a great result on his international debut. Seán (Class 9) and Peadar (Class 10) played in the Class 9 & 10 event. Peadar was drawn in an extremely difficult first round group and after some well- contested matches, he was unfortunate to lose in his “B” quarter-final. Despite a victory in his first round group, Seán failed to progress but recovered well to win 3-0 in his “B” quarter, semi and final against Class 10 players to pick up his first international medal and Ireland’s second Gold of the competition. Conor (Class 6) progressed from his first round group and was unfortunate to come up against Michael Azulay of Sweden (WR 23) in his quarter. After a closely fought game, Azulay won out but a good performance capped out a great return to international competition for Conor who had only recently returned from injury and there is sure to be success in the future for the Cork man. A fantastic weekend saw the Irish team return with eleven medals.
A big thank you to the coaches who travelled with us – Susan, Mick, Hiro and Chinatsu who guided and coached us through the competition and the parents and travelling Irish supporters who got behind each and every player. Thanks also to Table Tennis Ireland for organising the trip and for their continued support of the Para programme and to our High Performance coach Gavin for his commitment to helping us improve our games. There is no denying that Irish para table tennis certainly has a bright future ahead.
Report written by Seán Geoghegan
2019 Wine Cup Champions UCD
UCD were the major winners at the Irish Universities Championships, held in Galway 15/16 February 2019, taking three out of four titles, including an incredible 20th consecutive Mens Team title for the Irish Universities Hubert Wine Cup. Competition for the Wine Cup began in 1949, with Trinity College boasting the next longest winning streak, from 1949-1956. Queens, UCC, Trinity and UCD have been the main challengers in the event over the 70 years, however the current dominance at Intervarsity level of UCD at is probably without equal in any sport in Ireland.
There was a host of current and former Interprovincial and International players spread across almost all the teams in both Mens and Ladies, with Varsity table tennis at its strongest level in many years. However, in the Mens Team event, it was the strength in depth of UCD that told, with current and former junior and senior internationals playing at #1-5 in the UCD team, with an interprovincial at #6. UCD accounted for DIT, NUI Galway and Trinity en route to the final, where they overpowered a strong University of Limerick team on an 8-1 scoreline.
In the Ladies Team event, UCD were also defending Champions, with former National Champions Katie McGlone and Hannah Lynch Dawson playing at the top of the team. Experience again told, with the UCD team sweeping through the event with straight 6-0 victories over Sligo, UCC and NUI Galway.
It was McGlone and Lynch Dawson who also lead the way in the singles event, overcoming the semi-final challenges of Mair Kelly (UCC) and Amanda Taylor (NUIG), to face off in an all UCD final where McGlone took the Ladies title on a 3-0 scoreline ahead of defending Ladies Champion Lynch Dawson.
The Mens Singles saw UCD take four out of the eight quarter final positions, with Ryan Farrell (DCU), Brian Dunleavy (UL), Conor Beades (TCD) and Wei Xu (NUIG) joining the UCD quartet of Sasha Gillen, Tom Davis, Joey Nelson and Luke Dempsey. Seeding held true, with the top 4 seeds coming through to the semi-finals, and the top two seeds reaching the final, Gillen defeating Nelson in the semi-final, while top seed and defending Champion Farrell also reached the decider, although not without a huge semi-final against Davis that saw both players save match points, before the match was decided 14-12 in the 5th set. The battle of the scholarship students saw Farrell settle quickest in the final, taking the Mens Singles title for the second time, on a 3-1 scoreline.
25 years ago a 13 year old Hungarian boy called Janus Molnar was travelling by car to a Junior Table Tennis Tournament when tragically the car violently swerved and crashed into a tree, Janus and his mother were killed instantly. Janus loved Table Tennis and was the Hungarian Cadet Champion, all his aspirations of becoming one of the best players in Europe wiped out in a split second. His Club members at BVSC in Budapest were devastated but they decided to put all their energy into creating a Tournament in his memory which has now become one of the most prestigious on the European Junior Boy calendar and is in its 24thyear.
Jonathan Mooney and Max Skelton both entered the Molnar Open. In the Cadet Boys, Jonathan got to the querter finals and Max got to the last 16. In the Junior Boys event, Jonathan won his group and Max was runner-up. Both of them lost in the next round to players from the BVSC club. A full event report, with some photos, is available on the link below:
Thanks to Allen Robson for writing the report
Please click HERE for the results of the Masters Munster Open
Pictured are Referee Con O’Ceadaigh, Sophie Earley (Winner of Women’s Singles, U21 Women’s Singles and U18 girls Singles) and President Ken Strong
Gavin Maguire beat DCU player Ryan Farrell in the Men’s Singles final. He also won the Men’s Doubles with his UCD partner, Alex Gillen and the Mixed Doubles with Mia O’Rahilly Egan.
12 year old Sophie Earley won the Women’s Open Singles and Under 21 Women’s Singles beating Mia O’Rahilly Egan in both finals. Her third success was in the Under 18 Girls Singles when she beat Leeside’s Silke Heinen in the final.
Other results were:
Women’s Doubles: Mia O’Rahilly Egan & Zofia Wawrzyniak best Claire Heller & Sabina Devereux
Under 21 Men’s Singles: Thomas Earley(Ormeau) beat Tom Davis(UCD) 3/1
Masters Singles: Daryl Strong (Ormeau) beat Mark McAllister (Newmills) 3/0
Restricted Singles: Brian Devereux beat Kevin O’Keefe 3/1
Underage results HERE
Women’s Senior Singles results Knockout HERE
Men’s Senior Singles results Knockout HERE
Women’s & Men’s Singles Group results HERE
