We have been asked by Niall O’Flaherty (Connacht Branch Secretary) that unfortunately the Connacht open 2024 will not be going ahead this year and he hopes to see you all back next year. TTI are currently looking into other options for a ranking event to replace the Connacht open for this season. We will update the clubs and membership as soon this has been arranged.
Table Tennis Ireland are hosting an educational Anti-Doping Webinar with Sport Ireland Anti-Doping unit. This session is open for all of our members on Wednesday the 7th of February from 7pm-8pm online, we look forward to providing a very useful session to our members. This session is free of charge for Table Tennis Ireland Members.
Anti-Doping forms a very important part of ensuring our sport is clean and fair, we can’t stress the importance of making sure that our Table Tennis Community are aware of Anti-Doping processes and procedures.
This webinar will be a very informative engaging session which will be useful to all of our members, including players, coaches, parents, NPC’s and clubs. This masterclass will provide an overview of what happens during a test for anti-doping, an overview of what substances are banned as of 2024 and some other useful information to know on anti-doping, such as therapeutic use exemption – in some instances an athlete may be given the authorization to use a prohibited substance or method.
We encourage all our athletes, parents, coaches, athlete support staff and all other interested members to sign up for the very important Anti-Doping Educational Webinars run by Sport Ireland Anti-Doping Unit.
Please register for the session here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lceqprzstGdeC0vi7iV3MUcZd8KcvHerb
If you have any questions please email [email protected]
In the WTT Youth Contender in Linz, Austria, Peadar Sheridan, a Contender in the boys U13 event, he had an impressive performance. He went on a seven-match unbeaten streak, defeating players from various countries. In the group stage, he defeated Czigler from Romania, Mayer from Hungary, Li Hao Chen from England, and Seung Chen from Australia. In the round of 16, he showcased superb skills and beat Chen from Hong-Kong. In the Quarter final, he had a spellbinding performance and defeated Vamosi from Hungary with a score of 3-1. In the semi-finals, he outplayed Toro from Romania with a score of 3-1. In the final, he faced defender Okada from Japan, who won with a score of 3-0.
In the u15 event, Peadar had a tough match against Moravek from Czechia and unfortunately lost. However, he had a great victory in the round of 64 against Zihan Lin from England. In the round of 33, he battled bravely against Girlinger from Austria but lost with a score of 0-3.
Stefan Bonchev, who moved up from U11 category, faced some difficult matches in qualifying fir the U13 and U15 events. However, he had a convincing win against Italian player Slavec with a score of 3-0. In the mixed doubles U15 event, Stefan partnered with Bhai from Ukraine. They won two rounds but lost in the last 16 to a strong Croatian Pair.
Munster Table Tennis were delighted to “unveil” a brand new venue for the Munster Open this year in the Munster Technological University Arena in Cork City. The event took place on the 13th and 14th January. 198 entries from 111 players were received across the 16 different competition categories including U/11 and U/13 Girls for the first time in a number of years. The number of players represents a 30% increase on 2023 and the number of entries is a whopping 80% increase on 2023, proving that table tennis is recovering post Covid. The largest entry was 40 in the Men’s Singles, followed by 24 in the Restricted Singles in the Restricted Singles followed by 15 in both the Women’s Singles and the Para Open categories. The Veterans category was a disappointing 10.
The overall highlight of performances at the Munster Open had to be the competition between Anjali Singh of Ormeau and Emily Flynn of Craigavon over a range of categories. Both won two categories, with the other very often the runner up in those categories – Anjali won the Women’s Singles and U/17 Girls while Emily won the Women’s U/21 and Girls U/19 categories. Another significant pattern was the number of champions from 2023 who successfully defended their titles this year. Tom Davis of DCTT repeated his success with a win in the Men’s Singles, Anjali Singh in the Women’s Singles and U/17 Girls, Paddy Vaughan (unattached) in the Para Open and Ben Watson (Civil Service) in the U/19 Boys. The most successful club over the weekend was a more mixed affair compared to 2023. Leeside had three winners as had Ormeau and Loop. In respect of the inter provincial rivalry, Ulster players won out with 8 winners over Leinster with 5 winners followed by Munster with 3 winners.
Another highlight was the repeat use of live streaming by Club Sportscast to provide live commentary of matches and interviews with players over the two days. Munster TT would like to thank those coaches who offered their services to provide commentary on matches.
The category winners were:
Senior Men: Tom Davis, DCTT
Senior Women: Anjali Singh, Ormeau
Restricted Singles: Kevin O’Keeffe, Leeside
Vets: Eduardo Da Silva, Loop
Para: Paddy Vaughan, Unattached
U/21 Men: Adam Faulkner, Osmond
U/21 Women: Emily Flynn, Craigavon
U/19 Boys: Ben Watson, Civil Service
U/19 Girls: Emily Flynn, Craigavon
U/17 Boys: Vincent Ni, Loop
U/17 Girls: Anjali Singh, Ormeau
U/15 Boys: Clifford Tan, Loop
U/13 Boys: Karsten Close. Ormeau
U/13 Girls: Samanta Pusinskaite, Leeside
U/11 Boys: Jay Forde, Unattached
U/11 Girls: Samanta Pusinskaite, Leeside
Finally, but not least, thanks go to Tournament Referee, Adrian Brown, and Assistant to the Referee, Niall O’Flaherty, along with Adam Brown who provided IT support, and to the umpires who provided effective management of the many matches played over the weekend.
Pictures below:
The 2024 Munster Open is taking place this weekend on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th of January at the Munster Technological University Arena, Bishopstown, Cork City.
Please see below the draws for the events. Check-in from 8.30am and play starts 9am sharp Saturday and Sunday!
Draws Available to download here:
CHECK IN will be 30 minutes before scheduled start of your first event.
Live Streaming
Live streaming of matches will be in operation at the Munster Open on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th January. Please see link below for streaming.
Table Tennis Ireland – YouTube
Anti-doping Update:
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2022 List of Prohibitive Substances has been updated since the 1st of January 2023. Sport Ireland launched the Anti-Doping Digital Wallet Card for 2022. 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.
Anti-Doping: https://tabletennisireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Sport_Irl_Digital_Wallet_Card_2022-1.pdf
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!
Table Tennis Ireland wishes to advise all members that the Annual General Meeting of the Irish Table Tennis Association CLG will take place on Saturday 8th of June 2024 in Irish Sport HQ at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus.
Further details of the meeting will be announced in due course on our website and social media channels.
Lady Mary Peters celebrated the Ulster Open Table Tennis Centenary Championships Celebrations 1923-2023 with Irish Table Tennis President Pat Hunter, Irish Table Tennis Chairman Arnold Morgan and Ulster Table Tennis Chairman Ranjit Singh. Councilor Allen Ewart NBE and Councilor John Lafferty BE were also in attendance.
In the centenary year of the Ulster Open Championships, it was Ulster’s Paul McCreery and Charlotte Carey from Wales who were the top performers in the Men and Women’s Open Singles, with both players winning the respective titles for the third time.
Ulster’s Phil Wallace started as favourite in the Men’s Masters event and after winning a tight tussle against Paul Gallagher in the QF he survived an epic encounter with Pat McCloughan in the SF coming back from 2-1 down to win in the fifth game. In the other SF Munster’s Philip Shaw got the better of Sylwester Hadjul to reach the final, however, it was the Ulster player who came out on top winning in four games.
In the Women’s Masters Susan Hanlon proved to be too strong for trio Mary Toland, Chui Lin Kwok and Ruth McGilligan.
The Restricted Singles proved to be very competitive which saw Vincent Ni from Dublin go on to win to defeat Tomasz Toman in the final.
In the Para event Jude Sheldon and David McCaughern were involved in some highly entertaining matches, however they both narrowly missed out in qualifying for the SF’s. Paddy Vaughan lifted the title after a thrilling five games win over Para-Olympian Colin Judge.
In the Under 21 Men’s event, Ben Watson played Adam Faulkner and Alex Lo up against his Ormeau clubmate Peadar Sheridan. It was Adam and Peadar who went on to contest the final with Adam winning 11- 8 in the deciding game.
In the Women’s event Lowri Hurd recovered from losing the opening game in her SF against Anjali Singh to win in four games and set up a final with Emily Flynn who edged out Grace Looney in the other SF. In the final Lowri had to come from behind again after losing the first game 13-11 but she recovered to take the next three games and claim the U21 title for the second time in successive years.
The standout performer in the junior events was Ormeau’s highly rated Peadar Sheridan who is currently ranked No.5 in the ETTU standings after a string of impressive performances that includes a silver medal at the WTT event in Podgorica, Montenegro. Having narrowly missed out on winning the U21 title, Peadar claimed both the U19 and U17 Boys titles.
In the U19’s Boys event Peadar gained revenge on Adam Faulkner after his defeat in the U21 final to reach the final.
The U17 Boys event Peadar Sheridan was too strong for Vincent Ni in the final.
Following on from her success in the U21 final, Lowri Hurd completed a double when proving too strong for highly rated young star Grace Looney, who had an excellent win against clubmate Anjali Singh to reach the final.
In the girls U17 SF, Ormeau’s Anjali Singh got the better of Melissa Johnston to set up a final showdown with her clubmate Niamh Mason who reached the final after edging past Rebecca Scott in the other SF. It was Anjali who prevailed in a tightly contested match to win in four games.
In the U15 Boys final, Dublin’s Stefan Bonchev got the better of his older brother Boris to add the Ulster Open title to his growing list of achievements at international events that has seen him move into the top ten in the ITTF U11 world rankings.
In the girls event it was Eimear Hutchinson who got the better of Ahna McDonnell to be crowned U15 Girls champion.
Karsten Close (Boys) and Polly Smith (Girls) were the winners of the U13 events.
In the boys event Karsten defeated clubmate Matthew Bailie in the SF and Adam Hedderly from Loop Club in the final.
In the girls final Polly had to fight for every point to gain victory over Eimear Hutchinson, winning 11-5 in the deciding game.
It was great to see a large entry in the U11 event which was eventually won by Peter Cao from Loop Club who edged out Ormeau’s Tobias Gal in the final.
Full list of results
Men’s Open
Men’s Consolation
Women’s Open
Women’s Consolation
Men’s Masters
Consolation
Women’s Masters
Restricted Singles
Restricted Consolation
Para Senior
Para Junior
Para Consolation
U21 Men
U21 Men Consolation
U21 Women
U19 Boys
U19 Boys Consolation
U19 Girls
U19 Girls Consolation
U17 Boys
U17 Boys Consolation
U17 Girls
U17 Girls Consolation
U15 Boys
U15 Boys Consolation
U15 Girls
U13 Boys
U13 Boys Consolation
U13 Girls
U13 Girls Consolation
U11 Boys & Girls
U11 Consolation
The Board of Table Tennis Ireland is delighted to announce the appointment of David McNally as the organisations first Chief Executive Officer (CEO). David will be joining TTI on the 8th January 2024 and brings with him a wealth of senior management skills and experience gained from his career in the sport, recreation, and commercial sectors. David was General Manager at Fingal Community and Recreation Services and previously CEO at Welsh Gymnastics.
Arnold Morgan, Chair of TTI said,
“The appointment of a CEO is a major step forward for us as an NGB and for the sport. In parallel with Sport Ireland and the aims of the National Sports Policy, part of our Strategic Plan has been to develop the core management team of TTI to be paid professional staff. Staff numbers have grown with the help of Sport Ireland and more recently Sport NI, and the appointment of David as our first CEO marks another key milestone in the development of table tennis. This presents a fantastic opportunity to drive the implementation of the Strategic Plan forward, raise our profile, increase our membership, and enable players to achieve their full sporting potential. I am confident the staff team led by David will bring the sport to new heights. I want to offer mine and the board’s good wishes to David and look forward to him starting with us in January.”
In response to his appointment, David McNally said,
“I am really excited and thrilled with my appointment as CEO. I have a lot to learn about the sport, but I hope that my background will allow me to hit the ground running. I am really looking forward to meeting up with the staff and key stakeholders to help bring me up to speed. This sport ticks so many boxes in terms of inclusion, participation, and performance. I am sure it can see a significant growth over the next few years. It seems that almost everyone has at one stage in their life played table tennis and I see some real potential to capitalise on this. If we can find new ways and ideas to keep it fun and relevant to both existing and new players, we can build the sport back to being a go to sport for the community. It won’t happen overnight and I am sure there will be some bumps along the way, but I fully believe we can achieve and hopefully exceed what is set out in the strategic plan.”
David McNally
The 2024 Junior and Senior Munster Open will take place on Saturday 13th January and Sunday 14th of January at the Munster Technological University Arena, Bishopstown, Cork City.
Entries are now open through our JustGo system and will close at 5pm on Tuesday 2nd January 2024. 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=CCC26D1A6B5A5B22B38523038AA35D2585605579
Any queries should be sent to [email protected] AND [email protected]
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork City have asked that room bookings at the special rate for the Munster Open be made by Friday 22nd. People can book themselves at [email protected] or through the reservations manager – Siobhan Shaw – at [email protected]. When booking please quote Munster Table Tennis.
We are delighted to announce we will be holding a CPD session on 28th December 2023.
The session will take place in the Irish Wheelchair association from 12.30pm to 6 pm. The cost to attend this session is €10pp.
This session will be delivered by TTE national coach John Murphy and TTI national coaches Tara Fusco, Gavin Maguire, Con Higgins and Marcus McDonnell.
Session Schedule
12:30-2:30 – observation of camp & multi-ball
2.30-3.00 – short break
3.00-4.00 – session planning
4.00-4.45 – spotting & fixing technical errors
4.45-5.00 – short break
5.00-6.00 – bringing beginners to the next level and Q&A
This is open to all qualified activators, Level 1,2 & 3 coaches and club coaches.
If you would like to attend this session please register here: https://tti.justgo.com/workbench/public/events?ref=DB02AE747536A3B0307EDEF2E81D270C16CD401D
If you have any questions about this session please email [email protected]
