Saturday September 30th saw Colin Judge win the class 2 Para European Title.
This is an enormous achievement by Colin! He has dedicated himself tirelessly to his craft and he has got the reward.
However, he is not finished yet. We will see plenty more from Colin as he continues towards his goal of a medal at the paralympics in 2020.
Congratulations, Champ. We are all proud of you!
See here for ITTF article
Click the link here to view the results from Junior British League, the first leg of which took place last weekend.
Once on the website, simply go to fixtures and results and select the appropriate category.
Dublin A lead division 1 going undefeated! Stand out performances coming from Joey Nelson, Gaspar Romain and Jamie Liu all winning 100% of their matches.
Ulster boys are joint 1st in divsion 4A. Stand out performances coming from James Magrath and Julian Kelly. James winning 100% of his matches and Julian winning 90%.
Ulster girls top division 2 as Lucy Craig wins 10/10 for the weekend. Another excellent performance!
Dublin B boys stand at 2nd in division 4B. Dillon Byrne the stand out there with 9 wins from 10 matches.
Irish eyes were smiling, certainly they were smiling in Otocec on Sunday 24th September, 15 year old Owen Cathcart brought the brightest of smiles to the Emerald Isle; in impressive fashion he won the Cadet Boys’ Singles title at the 2017 Slovenia Junior and Cadet Open.
The no.2 seed, he thoroughly justified his high rated position in the tournament.
At the final hurdle he beat India’s Himnakulhpuingheta Jeho to seal the title (11-6, 12-10, 11-3), the 14 year old Indian being very much a player in form; in the second round he had overcome Argentina’s Matias Guadalupe, the top seed (11-6, 11-2, 11-5), before later in proceedings accounting for Hungary’s Mate Oscai in the round of the last eight (11-8, 11-5, 11-5) and Iran’s Radi Khayyam in the semi-finals (11-8, 11-5, 11-8).
Equally, Radi Khayyam was a player to attract the attention; at the quarter-final stage he had ousted India’s Payas Jain, the no.4 seed 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6).
In the opposite half of the draw, in the latter stages, Owen Cathcart had overcome Korea’s Park Gyunhyeon (13-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6), before reserving his place in the final courtesy of success in opposition to Croatia’s Ivor Ban, the no.3 seed (11-5, 11-4, 11-9).
Success for the second seed in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event; in the counterpart Cadet Girls’ Singles competition, it was success for the top seed.
Romania’s Elena Zaharia emerged the winner; at the final hurdle she accounted for Prithika Pavade of France, the no.2 seed (8-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8), having at the quarter-final stage beaten Lithuania’s Emilija Riliskyte (11-13, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7) and one round later Chinese Taipei’s Chen Ci-Xuan (11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8).
Notably one round earlier Chen Ci-Xuan had beaten India’s Divya Parag Chitale, the no.4 seed (8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7).
Meanwhile, in the latter stages in the adjacent half of the draw, Prithika Pavade had very much followed the path of Elena Zaharia; in the round of the last eight she had beaten Lithuania’s Kornelija Riliskyre (11-5, 11-7, 14-12), prior to overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Cai Fong-En, the no.4 seed (11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5).
by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
24 Sep 2017
This week sees a team of 2 fly out to Lasko, Slovenia to compete at the Para European Championships.
The 2 players competing are UCD duo Tom Davis & Colin Judge. Tom will be competing in the Class 10 singles while Colin will be competing in the Class 2 singles.
On the back of a summer of hard work and good results for both players they will be looking to this tournament as a chance to anounce themselves as contenders for positions in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Tom will no doubt be looking to notch up more wins to his name and work his way up in the World Ranking to try and break into the top 20. As for Spanish and German Open Champion Colin, his chance to achieve his dream of European Glory awaits. There’s a long way to go for both players and a hard week of matches but here at TTI we are certain they are capable of producing the required level when called upon.
Para National Coach Gavin Maguire had the following to say going into the tournament ‘The lads have prepared really well. Tom is looking sharper than ever before and has taken a step up in level over the last couple of months, he’s at some very good results already this season and I feel he’s in good shape going into this event. As for Colin, his dedication and application are undoubtable. He’s been travelling all over Europe to training camps for the past 6 weeks in preparation for this event. There is no doubt in my mind he’s ready and capable of achieving great things!’.
Be sure to follow the lads results on our Twitter @TableTennisIRE
Best of luck Team Ireland from all at TTI.
Veterans Six Nations, 2017.
Three Golds, numerous Silver and some Bronze accumulated to our best ever tally in Guernsey. Gold in the Over 40s Singles was reward for a sustained level of performance from Daryl Strong. Three Irish contenders in the same half saw Daryl prevail over Philip Wallace in an epic five set semi-final on a scoreline of 6,7,-10,-10, 9. Confronting Stephen Horsfield in the final, Daryl went 2 games up early on. Ultimately, however, he called a timeout at 8-8 in the fifth! All of his efforts in recent weeks paid off when his blocking skills absorbed all that Stephen could muster, and he ran out 11-8 victor. Cue elated celebrations from supporters.
Teresa Devaney dominated the Over 60 Ladies event, as is her wont. Improving her focus, she reversed her defeat in the team event to beat Christine Williams, 10,-13,9,4 in the final. Earliest Gold Medal performance was delivered in Over 70s by Oliver Adamson and Tommy Caffrey. Having endured a marathon team match earlier with England’s Peter Radford and Roy Norton, they lost the first two games in the final of the Doubles. They survived a very tight fourth game, to set up an intense decider. From 5-5, they surged to 8-6, whereupon Tommy gave crucial tactical advice for Oliver’s serve. Peter returned both serves into the net, an aberration considering Peter’s triumph later on in Singles. The winning point left honours even for the day: Team Gold for England, Doubles Gold for Ireland.
Silver medals were earned by McAlister and Finn in 50s and 60s Singles, respectively. Mark’s difficult passage to Guernsey was well rewarded with victories over Tony Collins and Dave Pender. However, losing to England’s Steve Green in four was no disgrace at the final hurdle. Brian secured a notable five set triumph over Scotland’s heavy hitting Charlie Brown in the semi-final. Phil Bowen from England was an altogether different proposition in the final! Audrey Robinson also won Silver in Over 70 Ladies, to complement her Over 60 Team medal!!
The Men’s Over 40 and Over 70 teams, and the Mixed Over 60 team all won Silver medals. Fine individual performances from Rory Scott, Philip Wallace, Martin Pickles, Philip Shaw and Jim Storey contributed enormously to these successes. Despite a delayed flight, the Ladies Over 50s secured Bronze. Against England B, in the deciding match, a nail-biting 16-14 win in the fifth for Annemarie over Sue Pingram was particularly memorable. Special mention must go the the Over 75 team in this inaugural staging. Liam Perris provided valuable guidance to his team with wily campaigner Ted and new boys Pat and John aboard. They can be very pleased with their fine showing, earning Bronze.
Lionel, Derek, Becks and all of the organisers can be rightly proud of their success in hosting a most enjoyable tournament. On to Cardiff in 2018!
Click here for all winner and runner-up of all events
Click here for over 40 mens team results
Click here for over 40 mens singles result
Click here for over 50 womens team result
Click here for over 60 womens singles result
Click here for over 60 womens team result
Click here for over 70 team result
Click here for over 75 team result
After a hard day’s play on Saturday in the tightly fought qualification event 10 men and 4 Women came through to qualify for Sunday’s play.
The men: Artur Bialek, Michal Korycki, Sam Logue, Joey Nelson, Thomas Earley, Zak Earley, Art McLoughlin, Tom Davis, Daryl Strong and Conor Gallagher and the Women: Thuy Lin Cashman, Erin Thompson, Nga Nguyen and Claire Heller all fought valliantly through very tough matches to earn their places in Sunday’s Main event.
For some of the qualifiers, Sunday would prove to be a difficult day but a benficial one none the less. For others it would prove a very successful day, getting their chance to prove themselves against the best players in the country. Some stand out performers from the qualifiers on the Men’s side were Conor Gallagher and Art McLoughlin. Both showed how much they have improved recently with some beautiful Table Tennis over the two days. Conor finished in 9th place while young Art finished in 14th. On the Women’s side, it was Thuy Lin Cashman who produced the stand out performance perhaps of the whole weekend. She reached the final of the main event losing out to Mia O’Rahilly Egan 4-1 in the final. Thuy Lin showed vast improvements over the two days. This result will only give her confidence and help her to improve further.
It was business as usual for the seeds in the Men’s singles groups with all the seeds going through to the quarter final. There were a couple of upsets though! DCU’s Ryan Farrell played one of the best matches of his life to overcome the eventual winner Artur Bialek 3-1. Ryan was then unfortunate to draw the eventual runner-up Michal Korycki in the quarter final. Ryan put up a great show but was unfortunate to lose 4-0. The other upset was Alexander Gillen beating Michal Korycki in the group! An excellent performance from Sascha. He will take so much confidence from this win and continue to improve. The Semi finals saw two familiar face in Gavin Maguire and Paul McCreery. The two national team regulars had no major issues finding their way to the semi finals. Unfortunately for the two boys their days would end there. Paul lost out to Michal 4-2 in a brilliant match as did Gav to Artur.
After a long day the Two Pingzone players battled it one last time. Artur Bialek came through the winner 4-1 to claim the Irish Senior Classification title.
In the Women’s event there was a surpirse in the form of Irish number 1 Katie McGLone finsihing 3rd in group A on countback. She fell to the in-form Thuy Lin Cashman 3-1. Mia O’Rahilly Egan topped group B with a great win over Rebecca Finn. The Semi finals got under way with Thuy Lin facing Rebecca and Mia facing Sabina Devereux. It was Thuy Lin who cause another upset beating Rebecca Finn 4-3. The second semi fianl saw Mia come through a 4-2 winner over vastly experienced, top 4 regular, Sabina Devereux. This set up a final between the two in form players of the day. A fantastic match full of nail biting rallies saw the classy Mia O’Rahilly Egan come out on top by 4 games to 1.
Please click the links below to see full results of Sunday’s play.
Click here for the Men’s post group stage results
Click here for the Women’s post group stage results
Click here for Mens and Womens group stage results
Sophie claims bronze at ITTF World Hopes Challenge
More about the medal later.
23 countries gathered from the 6 continents to participate in a week long intensive Cant at the National Institute of Luxembourg .
From Australia to Libya, from USA to Wales,from Ireland to Iran. from Guatemala to Germany and many more 16 boys and 16 girls trained with Chinese coaches and young Chinese sparring partners for 5 hours daily in addition to a morning physical at 7.30 daily.
Under the expert tutelage of head coach Li Xiadong, Zhang Yining,former World and Olympic champion Sophie Practiced with players from Brazil to Kazakhstan and many more nations
One and ahf hours multiball daily helped to improve and sharpen Sophie’s skills.
Physical training under the expertise of Zheng Chaoying improved her footwork.
On the final day a World Hopes Challenge Event was held.
In her first round groupSophie lost her opening match to Giri(USA) 0/3, won against Ha nah Green(Australia) 3/0 and then in the first shock of the day ,defeated Laura Kaim(Germany) in a stunning performance 3/0.
This led to a quarter final clash with Sommerova(Czech Rep.) .Another scilltinating performance from our young Ormeau star with another 3/0 victory
In the semi final Sophie met the top seed from Singapore Zhou JingYi who proved to be too powerful for Sophie
Nevertheless a bronze medal secured in a World event by the warrior from Ormeau.
Coach Conn Higgins said words could not express the enormity of this achievement.Sophies’ result was immense.
Conn paid tribute to the tremendous work ring done by Keith and Gervis Knox in Ormeau and the expertise of national coach John Murphy.
As HP director Conn stated that this latest success is due to a vision,implemented with superb teamwork on a very limited budget.
Conn also paid a huge tribute to the supportive role played by Sophies’ mum Helen during the event
Sinead Keon Galway has retained her World title at the 7th World Dwarf Games in Guelph, Ontario Canada. She won the Women’s Open Table Tennis Class 2. Sinead met Kim Dean of Team GB in the final where she held her nerve to take the title. Sinead has been training with Ronan Rooney and Rena McCarron Rooney prior to their retirement from Para Table Tennis. Sinead is in class 7 Para Table Tennis and plays with Galway Speeders.
Table Tennis Ireland would like to congratulate Sinead on this incredible achievement. Her hard work and dedication continues to pay off for her. She is a fine example to us all and we are all proud of her. Long may here success continue.
Young Sophie Earley has been given a great honour this week. After impressing at The European Hopes Week in April she has been selected to represent both Ireland and Europe at the World Hopes Week which takes place in Luxembourg from the 10th to the 18th of August. What really puts the magnitude of this achievement into perspective is the fact that Sophie is one of only Five Europeans selected to take part in this prestigious event. The event is comprised of a training camp and a tournament, both of which Sophie will be partaking in. Based on results, as well as other factors such as attitude, four boys and four girls will be selected by the ITTF to represent the World Hopes team at the World Cadet Challenge in Fiji in October 2018. Sophie will be accompanied by the vastly experienced and accomplished coach and team leader Conn Higgins. Such a presence can only benefit young Sophie at such a high level event.
It can’t be said enough what a great achievement this is. Sophie is following in the footsteps of Owen Cathcart and Katie McGlone who have both also had the honour of playing this event in recent years. It is clear to see that the ITTF has been good to Ireland with these selections. Sophie’s work ethic and dedication to her craft are clearly already starting to pay dividends for her. She is an example to follow.
National coach John Murphy was delighted on hearing of the selection; “This is a great opportunity for Sophie to practice with and compete against some of the best in the world in her age group. It will also be good to work with some of the best Chinese coaches who will be in attendance at the event”.
On behalf of everyone at TTI we wish Sophie all the best in this event, events prior to it and the many that will come after it.
CRAIGAVON TABLE TABLE TENNIS CLUB COACH RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD
Table Tennis Ireland President, Ken Strong and Ulster Branch Chairman, Arnold Morgan visited Craigavon Table Tennis Club during their summer training camp held in the Baptist Church Hall at Drumgor.
The purpose of the visit was to present Club coach Michael McGoldrick with the table Tennis Ireland Male Coach of the Year Award, which is awarded each year to the coach who has made the greatest contribution to the sport.
Ken said in presenting the Award: “I am delighted to present this Award to Michael in recognition of all your fine work developing the Club and the sport in the area over the last year and earlier. It is a well earned accolade and fully justified. The Association wishes you and your club members every success in the future.”
Both Arnold and Ken outlined some of the many examples of Michael’s involvement with and input to the Club which has led the Club being recognised as an example of good practice in Sport NI’s Active Clubs Project. He sees the way ahead as a strategic thinker, producing and implementing his good ideas. His coaching caters for a wide range of players across communities, ages and genders.
