The group stages of the 40s provided several cracking matches to whet the appetite for 2018 at Palmerstown recently. Brian Devereux and Dave Gibbons scored notable 5 set victories here. Tibor Pofók was unfortunate to lose two of three five set matches. Pat McCloughan scored a worthy win over Phil Wallace, and a fifth set victory over Devereux en-route to the final. However, Daryl Strong managed to ward off all challenges to secure another title. Losing only two sets all season, he truly is on a roll!
The Ladies event saw some great performances from Paula which did not result in victory. Ikuko prevailed 12-10 in the fifth, and Annemarie had to overcome a 0-2 deficit to fend off Paula’s challenge also! Gillian and Ger served up a real cracker over five entertaining, close fought sets. Coping with tennis elbow, Ger did well to counter Gillian’s formidable forehand attack. Annemarie’s good showing in the 40s event really paid dividends, scoring narrow victories to come through undefeated. Ikuko can be pleased with her performance level here.
The Over 50s event was depleted with the injury to Dave Pemberton. However, debutant Branislav Jakovetic added a new dimension to the mix. Pat McCloughan continued his fine showing in the 40s to triumph over Kevin Mackey in the final.
Branislav beat Oliver and Martin on his way to a semi-final with Tommy Caffrey in the 60s. Using his forehand flat kills very effectively, he led 8-3 in the first game before the maestro found his way back to win out 12,8,5. Earlier, Caffrey had produced a resolute performance to beat Peter Aird in the fifth. On the other side of the draw, Finn came from 0-2 down to beat Philip Shaw. In the final, Brian started very slowly. Unable to penetrate the defensive wiles of the master, he lost the first two games. Persevering with an offensive mindset, he clawed his way back to set up a fifth set. This went nip and tuck to 5-5; then Tommy eked out a 9-6 lead. Playing some courageous last ditch shots, Brian levelled again at 9-9. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong ball to attack, putting a forehand into the bottom of the net. Probing and feinting at match point, he set up a loose high ball which Caffrey dispatched with a rare backhand winner. Stranded, vanquished, Brian could only laugh, swatted away like a fly on a scoreline of 7,9,-9,-9,9!
The 70s went to form with Tommy beating Martin 3-0 in the final. Ken Peare beat Jim Sheehan 7,-8,8,-10,7 in a close encounter at the group stage. The participation here of Liam and Jim is most heartening.
Our thanks to all who assisted in setting up the hall, particularly Denis, Norah, Ray, Terry and Hiroto. The readiness of everybody to umpire when called upon is greatly appreciated. It is hoped that Jim really enjoyed that chocolate digestive late on. Ger’s efforts in the catering department increase everyone’s enjoyment. Dave as referee and Sharon as treasurer/co-ordinator guided the day’s progress with aplomb. The assistance from Leinster Branch in procuring access to the facility is most welcome.
Best wishes to all of our members who are coping with illness or injury!
Three Health Warnings: A. This is not an Update Report on Board Business as much of that is dealing with issues which are at either a confidential stage or in development phases; B. All comments are my own, derived from Sporting experience and the current TTI Board position; C. The Blog is intended to inform, stimulate discussion and create an greater sense of TTI unity.
ADVOCACY – Table Tennis needs to have influence at many levels and the role of the Board is to both take a lead in advocating what is good about its Sport and also in explaining how TTI could make best use of Schemes, Finance and Advice/Help. Recent and planned meetings with Sport Ireland (SI) and Coaching Ireland (CI) are just a part of this Advocacy role.
ACCOUNTABILITY – Officials and volunteers in every organisation need to be accountable to those they represent, and this applies at every level – in Table Tennis, the Board and its committees, the Branch Executives and their Committees, as well as Staff, Coaches, Officials and Volunteers all have differing but vital accountability roles; sometimes this involves taking informed decisions based on responses and experience, but always with the users and affiliated members in mind – 2 (of many) pressing Board issues are the staging of international Men’s Euro League matches against San Marino (Feb) and Lithuania (March) and the possible trial re-structuring of the Inter-Pro Championships (April).
APPLICATION – This covers many matters – Why give attention to High Performance? What is the right Female Sports Development? Do we need more or less tournaments? How to ensure that Players enjoy their experience of competition outside their own local comfort zone? All of these 4 challenges, and more, are being addressed by the Board …. but it is certain that the greatly improved HP profile has done TTI a lot of good in the eyes of ITTF, ETTU, SI and more – thanks to Conn Higgins (HP Director), John Murphy (HP Coach) and Teams!
3 A’s for your consideration – comments to me at [email protected].
Long standing servant to Irish Table Tennis Derek Hanley receives the Joe Veselskey award for his services to Table Tennis at the recent TTI Board Meeting.
Table Tennis Ireland would like to congratulate and thank Derek for all his years of hard work!
See full placings for the Ulster open – Junior events here
The Irish Table Tennis Association is aware that its former Technical Director, Mr. John O’Donoghue, following a guilty plea, has been recently convicted and sentenced in respect of the possession of illegal material relating to children.
Our primary concern is the safeguarding of our members, especially children and other vulnerable people. With this in mind, we encourage anyone affected by incidents of this nature or anyone with knowledge of such incidents in relation to table tennis activities to contact the appropriate authorities or the Board of the Association. The crimes committed by Mr. O’Donoghue are reprehensible and are counter to our commitment to provide safe and healthy opportunities for children and adults to participate in our sport. Over the next few months, like other sporting organisations, TTI will be issuing a Child Safeguarding Statement, which is a requirement under the new Children First Act. We urge members to make contact, if they have any concerns.
Useful Contact and reporting information
Ireland
ISPCC ChildLine – call 1800 66 66 66
GARDA Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit, call (01) 6663430
TUSLA http://www.tusla.ie/services/child-protection-welfare/contact-a-social-worker
TUSLA RECOMMENDS HOW TO REPORT A CONCERN
Anyone can report a concern about a child. If you have any concerns about a child you should report it to the Child and Family Agency. A report can be made in person, by telephone or in writing.
Any member of the public who has a concern about a child can contact the local social work duty service (http://www.tusla.ie/services/child-protection-welfare/contact-a-social-worker) in the area where the child lives for advice about reporting your concerns.
If a child is in danger outside office hours you can contact the Gardaí.
Northern Ireland
PSNI: Contact the police service on 101, the non-emergency telephone number, where you will be put in contact with a specially trained police officer.
NSPCC Phone 0808 800 5000
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
This year’s Ulster Open saw not only some fantastic players, particularly in the womens event, but also some great performances and some shock wins.
It is safe to say it was a very exciting tournament.
The event started on Friday night with the Men’s and Women’s singles groups and Restricted singles groups.
A couple of early surprises in the Men’s groups were Poland’s Dawid Sulkowski beating Sam Logue from North County TT, Irish Cadet No.1 Thomas Joyce from Mayo beating UCD Dublin’s Conor Gallagher. Another excellent performance came from UCD Dublin’s Art McLaughlin, Irish No.2 Cadet and No.3 Junior. He won his ‘group of death’ which included Zak Earley, Hung Nguyen and Robbie Gavin.
In the Women’s singles groups all went according to plan for all the seeds except for one. Mia O’Rahilly Egan found herself in a group with Former Croatian national team player and former world ranked 109 Tina Kupinich.
A very tight game, where the Croatian’s pedigree was evident, saw her edge out O’Rahilly Egan 3-0 in three extremely close and competitive sets.
In the restricted singles the stand out performances came from Tina Kupinich and Shane O’Connor in group A and Philip Jamison and James Magrath in group B. These four progressed to the Semi finals on Saturday where Tina faced James and Phil faced Shane. The Croatian had too much for Glenburn’s Magrath as did Ormeau’s Jamison for Ballincollig’s O’Connor. Jamison Edged out Kupinich 12-10, 14-12, 13-11 in a very competitive final.
Saturday saw the Men’s and Women’s Singles continue. Art McLaughlin continued his fine run beating 8th seed Sam Logue 3-0. Phil Jamison had a great performance to take out Ballincollig’s Irish junior no.2 Dylan Grace. Tom Davis was one of the standout performers of the weekend beating his team mate Alexander Gillen in the quarter final before having match point on Irish No.1 Paul McCreery and losing out 14-12 in the fifth set. Ryan Farrell performed excelently against long standing National team member Gavin Maguire but was denied 3-2 in the end. This set up a mouth watering Clash between the top two seeds. They did not dissapoint. The two team mates and good friends provided a spectacular, topsy turvy match which saw Gavin take a 2-0 lead before being pegged back by Paul who edged a close 3-2 in the end.
The Womens draw saw the addition of familiar face, Charlotte Carey from Wales and not so familiar faces Sejla Fazlic of Germany and Tina Kupinich of Croatia. Kupinich was unfortunate to be drawn against Carey in the quarter final after winning her group and then receiving a bye. Carey won this encounter 3-0. Her full time practice and current form just too much for the tough Croatian. On the other side of the draw, Fazlic, a member of the German junior girls national squad for 2017, eased through Mia O’Rahilly Egan anfd Ashley Givan to set up a mouth watering clash with Carey who came through Rebecca Finn in her Semi final.
These two ladies produced a fantastic game of Table Tennis where they constantly tried to out-smart each other with placement of the ball and variation of pace. It was the German that got off to a great start steaming into a 2-0 lead. It wasn’t long before the Welsh professional got a foothold in the game and began to take back the control. It was in the fourth set where Fazlic had her best chance to win holding an early lead but could not convert. Charlotte that took the fifth set 11-9.
The men’s doubles saw Maguire and Gillen fight off the spirited Farrell and Logue 3-1 to claim the title.
In the women’s doubles Carey and Earley came back from the brink of defeat to beat Fazlic and Nguyen 3-2.
The pairing of Maguire and Carey were too strong for Farrell and Fazlic, the UCD Dublin pairing coming through 3-0.
Junior boys singles saw a surpirse win for James Skelton against Dylan Grace in semi final no.1 while Art McLaughlin ousted his rival Thomas Joyce in semi final no.2. Skelton, in imperious form, went 2-0 ahead in the final before Art started to get into the match. Skelton’s level dropped slightly and McLaughlin’s rose which allowed Art to battle his way back in to the match. Art came through the eventual 3-2 winner. Dylan Grace snatched 3rd place.
Junior girls singles saw long standing junior international Rebecca Finn come out on top beating Leeside’s Zofia Wawrzyniak in the final. Third place went to Loop’s Pravesha Ragi who took out Irish no.1 Mia O’Rahilly Egan during the day. This was an excellent win for Pravesha and shows that all the hard work she is putting in is paying off.
The always competitive cadet boys category proved an exciting tournament, however, for the most part, the seeding positions were fulfilled and there were no great shocks.Thomas Joyce of Mayo fulfilled his no.! seeding by winning the event beating his rival and friend, UCD Dublin’s Art McLaughlin in the final. Ormeau’s rising star James Skelton finished in third place.
Before having to pull out of the junior girls singles on Sunday due to sickness, golden girl Sophie Earley fullfilled her deserved No.1 seeding in the cadet girls singles event beating Pravesha Ragi in the Final. A relatively quiet tournament for Sophie this one but she got the job done on Saturday none the less. The mark of a champion. It was a very successfull tournament for Pravesha Ragi. She continues to improve and show good form. Third place went to Silke Heinen of Leeside TTC. This was a good result for the always improving Silke but she will be looking to better this next time. With her undeniable fighting spirit and ever improving game she will be fully confident of doing this.
There were two stand outs in the U13 boys event. Max Skelton and Jonathon Mooney, both of Ormeau TTC, are showing that they are just slightly ahead of the rest of the pack at the moment. No.1 seed Max sailed through the tournament to the final where he was tested by his team mate but eventually came out on top 3-2. He showed excellent poise and focus to edge out his training partner in the end. Gellert Moravcsik showed his progression taking third place. Ones to watch out for in this category are Gellert himself who is only 11, Fionn Hickey (10) and Tom Irwin (10). Fionn and Tom finished 5th and 6th respectively.
The U13 girls event was another tightly fought event. Again Ormeau TTC had two players representing them in a final. Lucy McIvor beat her friend and clubmate Anna Kelly. Third place went to Rachel Taylor from Buninnadden TTC in Mayo. Reports from the national training camps say that these girls are making big improvements and training hard. The hard work is clearly paying off.
The U11’s event was a participation event where the stars of the future could get some valuable match practise in a stress free environment where results are not of the highest importance. All the kids had fun (the most important thing) and tried their best! We look forward to seeing how these players progress over the next couple of years.
All banded event winners and runners up are listed in the results attached.
See here for all winners and runners up
Keith and Gervis Knox of Ormeau Table tennis Club were recently awarded the BBC Sports Personality Unsung Hero award for Northern Ireland. Check out the 2 minute video on their award below!
Click Here to view the video!
Ireland Claim 12 Medals at Home Countries
The first new look Home Countries International was held in Guernsey.
Seven countries took part in six categories: men, ladies, junior boys, junior girls, cadet boys and cadet girls.
It was a historic occasion for Sabine Deveraux winning her first cap along with Nga Nguyen who was also winning her first senior cap .
They did not disappoint as they defeated Scotland’s Gillian Edwards and Alisa Khalid 5/0 to claim the bronze medal.
The young men’s team of Ryan Farrell and Alexander Gillen also claimed bronze, recovering from a narrow ⅔ loss v Scotland to defeat the Welsh team of Callum Evans and Dean
Cundy 4/1
The juniors boys team of Dylan Grace and Joey Nelson claimed Irelands third bronze, defeating Wales 3/2 but narrowly lost to England 2/3, with Dylan snatching two singles victories, and Scotland 1/4.
A fourth bronze was won by the junior girls of Mia O’Rahilly Egan and Thuy Linh Cashman.
They lost to Wales 2/3, lost to England 4/1,with Thuy Linh defeating Anaya Patel but defeated Scotland 5/0.
Our gold medal chances came v England in both cadet categories
An impressive start saw Art McLauglin and Thomas Joyce take a 2/0 lead
Likewise Silke Heinen and Nicole Scott raced into a 2/0 lead.
Two narrow defeats in the doubles swung the momentum England’s way
England levelled both matches when Thomas and Nicole both lost
Art could not get to grips with Louis Price on this occasion while in a cliff-hanger Silke was beaten 10/12 in the fifth set
So 2 silver and four bronze, with every player securing a medal.
In the singles event two players reached finals
Thuy Linh Cashman defeated Scotland’s Isla Scott in the quarter final, beat Wales’s Beth Richards in the semifinal but lost out to the impressive Anna Hursey(Wales) in the final.
Art McLaughlin secured a silver medal also. He defeated Louis Evans 3/1 in the quarter final and Martin Johnson in the semi final
In the final it went all the way to the fifth set but Naphong Boonyaprapa proved victorious for England
Other impressive performers were Nicole Scott who claimed bronze losing to England’s Gemma Kerr and Silke who also lost to England’s Millie Rogove.
Mia ORahily Egan claimed a bronze also losing to Anna Hursey while Dylan Grace won his second bronze losing to eventual winner Dylan Curry(Sco)
A big thanks to coaches Conn Higgins and Sam Logue who were kept on their toes in a very busy schedule
Table Tennis Ireland member Keith Knox has designed and launched a groundbreaking new app for the Table Tennis community! Read below a description of the app and what it can do.
TTFit is the most effective Table Tennis Training program, adapted to your ability, level of fitness and your goals. Do you want to become the next top player? or begin learning from a reliable coaching source? This app is your answer, and you will be progressing in no time.
TTFit has been developed by leading qualified coaches alongside top World Ranked players demoing the exercises including Bai He, previous top WR50 player and current Slovakian National Champion. TTFit consists of 70+ Table Tennis specific exercises, all beautifully presented with ultra-slow motion videos detailed with descriptions and captions.
These state of the art video tutorials include Table Tennis exercises, tailor-made in-hall fitness exercises and workouts to better improve your game. Our leading coaches and development team have formed over 40 pre-made training sessions all with the end goal of improvement in mind. These sessions focus on the various aspects of your game, including but not limited to; Service, Receive, Third Ball, Flicking, Reactions, Control, Forehand, Backhand, Touch and Push.
With this app we are sure it will add benefit to you as a player, coach or sparring partner. TTFit enables the coach/player to mix and match different exercises to allow for custom made sessions. With this feature you will be able to pre plan your training session and carry out a more organised training program.
TTFit has created its own community for table tennis players and coaches to share ideas exercises and much more. Similar to that of other Social Media Platforms you will be able to follow, unfollow friends and coaching professionals, share images & much more. It’s our hope that this may be used to sell equipment, get coaching tips and more.
Your one stop coaching solution developed and brought to you by top Table Tennis coaches and players.
The app is currently only available on iPhone however, Keith does hope to realease an android compatible version in 2018!
A fantastic effort from you Keith and we at Table Tennis Ireland congratulate you on this great initiative and wish you all the best of success with it!
