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AWARD OF HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIPS

by TTI News

AWARD OF HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIPS

Several months ago, our President, Joe Hickey, made a proposal to the Board to introduce Honorary Life Membership Awards. This proposal was unanimously accepted and the following criteria was adopted.

AWARD OF HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIP – CRITERIA 

This award is the highest distinction which can be given by the Irish Table Tennis Association and will never be lightly awarded. It should not be made for length of service alone but for outstanding service.

Nomination is restricted to those who have given outstanding service to the Irish Association at national or provincial levels.

A nominee must:

a. Be over the age of 65 years, but exceptions may be made.

b. Have served the Association credibly in a voluntary capacity either at Board or exceptionally at Branch level for a minimum period of 20 years; service may not necessarily have been continuous

c. Be in good standing with the Association

The nomination of persons for appointment as Honorary Life Members will be made by the President, Life President or Deputy Life President. Such nominees must be approved by a majority of the ITTA Board and the President and one of either the Life or Deputy Life President to receive the award of Honorary Life Membership

The Board subsequently approved the nominations of Ted Mahaffy from Belfast and Tommy Rowsome from Dublin to receive the first Honorary Life Memberships under this criteria.

TED MAHAFFY

Ted Mahaffy has been involved in the sport for more than 40 years in many roles which include holding various offices in the Ulster Branch in addition to being an Ulster Underage coach for a long period. He has been a long-time member of the ITTA Disciplinary panel. As well as being an active qualified ITTA Umpire, he has been a successful player, representing Ireland at both Over 60 and Over 70 levels with a Six Nations medal to attest to his ability. A recent description of Ted correctly describe him as being loved by the players he coaches and being a Friend of All and Loved by All. A terrific example of selfless commitment to the sport of Table Tennis.

TOMMY ROWSOME

Tommy Rowsome is another fully deserving of Honorary Life Membership. He coached in Dublin’s Glenalbyn Club and other clubs for more than 45 years mainly at schools and junior levels. He coached his 3 most well known junior players to be outstanding Irish Senior Champions and Senior international players. These are Colum Slevin, Anne Butler (née Leonard) and Kevin Keane. The hallmark of Tommy’s running any club has been his ability to make the training enjoyable by creating a good social atmosphere. His handicap tournaments were legendary advised Colum Slevin recently. Colum also advised that some of Tommy’s coaching methods were well ahead of the time, introducing multi ball in the club in the 1970s. Another fine example of selfless commitment to the sport.

“The contributions made by Ted and Tommy have enriched our sport and indeed the lives of all who have known them down through the years. They thoroughly deserve this award and, on behalf of the membership, I congratulate them on their election as Life Members” said ITTA President Joe Hickey.

The awards will be presented at the next Annual General Meeting on Saturday 13th June 2015.

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German Open beckons for Colin Judge

by ParaTTI News

Rio hopeful Colin Judge heads off once again today in his quest to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics.  This time it’s to Bayreuth, Germany for the German Open.    

This is Colin’s first tournament since the Italian Open in Lignano last March.  This time he has been drawn in a group of 4 with Stephane Molliens (France,) Kim Kyung Mook (Korea) and Tomasz Jakimczuk (Poland.)  He needs to finish in the top 2 in the group to qualify for the knockout stages.

National coach Ronan Rooney is hopeful that the successes of early tournaments can continue saying this tournament affords Colin the opportunity to gain vital ranking points to move him closer to a Rio qualification slot.

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Rena McCarron Rooney’s fine form continues at the Slovakia Open

by International EventsParaTTI News

Having picked up a Silver medal at last weeks Para Slovenia Open Rena McCarron Rooney’s fine form continued as she progressed to the semi-final of the Para Slovakia Open today.  

She had a narrow 3:2 loss in the group stage to Pouchpacheva (WR 3 and top seed) before a really good win against WR8 Gossiaux of France. In this morning’s quarter final she beat Bootwansirina of Thailand WR6, recovering from two sets down to win a huge match 3:2. In this afternoons semi final she was beaten 3:1 by LaFaye of France (WR) but she picked up a bronze medal and more importantly vital ranking points towards Rio 2016 qualification.

So, excellent back-to-back Factor 40 tournaments for Rena that should see her firmly in the World Top 10 when the rankings released later this month.

Rena’s next tournament is the Para German Open in the last week in May.

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Record setter Hannah caps off stellar season with Schools crown

by AwardsNational EventsTTI News
Credit to John Upham Photography

Ulsters Hannah Lynch-Dawson has capped a memorable 2014/2015 season by claiming yet another title, this time at the All-Ireland Schools Finals in Tallaght as she led her Cavan Royal Team to a convincing victory in the Under 18 Girls event to top off what has been something of a record breaking year for the Irish International.

Lynch-Dawson has been on the victory trail for much of the season, propelling herself to the top of the Womens rankings following victories at both the Senior Classification and the Connacht Open before the turn of the year. Despite a shoulder injury stalling her progress in January, she picked up where she left off on her return at the Junior 6 Nations in Cardiff in March, as she teamed up with International Team-mate Chloe O’Halloran to claim a Team Gold in this prestigious home nations event. 

The season went from strength to strength for the Fivemiletown player at the Senior Interprovincial Championships, as she again returned from a brief spell on the sidelines to star for the Ulster team as they regained the Senior title back from bitter rivals Leinster. With this victory came another major accolade and a piece of history as she was awarded the prestigious Tommy Caffrey Award for Player of the Tournament. This meant that Hannah became the first player to hold both the Tommy Caffrey and the Colum Slevin Awards at the same time, having been presented with the Colum Slevin Award for top player at the Junior interpros in April 2014. 

Congratulations to Hannah on a truly remarkable season on all fronts. Let’s hope this is just a stepping stone for bigger things to come.

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Rock reign supreme at All-ireland showdown in Tallaght

by National EventsTTI News

Blackrock College emerged as the big winners at the end of play at the 2015 All-Ireland Schools Finals in Tallaght on Wednesday 6th May as once again, the National Basketball Arena played host to a major National event when the cream of schools Table Tennis went head-to-head for the right to call themselves All-Ireland Champions.

‘Rock swept all before them as their three teams on show – U18, U15 and U13 boys, all claimed the top prize to give the South Dublin School an unprecedented treble of All-Ireland Titles. They didn’t have it all their own way however, as the U13 Boys in particular had to hold off the strong challenge of a tricky St.Gerards side in a tight match before eventually pulling through 4-3. In the Under 15s, they managed to wrestle the title back from the clutches of St. Louis of Mayo, who were aiming to defend the crown they came away with 12 months ago. It was sweet success in the end for Blackrock, who have been rewarded for their consistent, year round training regime by this flurry of National Titles.

The other Multiple winner, on a day which saw five different schools crowned champions, was Manulla NS in Castlebar. Manulla, no stranger to All-Ireland glory, were successful in defending their Boys title which they won in 2014, and this year the girls also managed to join the party as they went away as champions for 2015. In the Final match, Manulla overcame a formidable St.Ronan’s team 4-2 in an epic battle to now firmly establish themselves as the team to beat in Irish primary school table tennis.

Cavan Royal – led by Irish Number 1 ranked female player Hannah Lynch Dawson, brushed all aside in convincing fashion to take the U19 Girls title, while the girls of Mountrath CS followed up the U13 title they secured in 2014 by taking home the U15 crown – just reward for the countless hours put in over the season by Jimmy Hayes and all of his players. In the U13 Girls Event, it was the turn of Leinster Champions Colaiste Bride to emerge victorious, and in truth the result never looked in doubt as they secured 5-1 wins in both the semi final and final matches.

It’s also worth noting the performance of St Louis of Mayo, who despite coming up just short, did go away with 3 Silver Medals of their own in U15 Boys, U15 Girls and U13 Girls events. Ulsters Malone College also fell agonisingly short, as along with their Silver in the U13 Boys, they claimed Bronze in the U15 Boys and this could easily have been much more had they managed to clinch their semi-final which they eventually lost on the deciding doubles to St.Louis – arguably the match of the tournament.

Congratulations once again to the winners and all those that made for an enthralling day of Table Tennis. They will all of course be back again next year fighting for the 2016 All-Ireland Schools Titles. 

A special thanks also to Tournament Referee Tony Martin and Con O’Ceadaigh for their efforts in ensuring the smooth running of the event and to Tony Higgins for producing a slide show capturing the day.  Follow the link to view.   

See here for the final results from the day.

All-Ireland Schools Finals 2015 – Results

Under 19 Boys:

1st Blackrock College
2nd The Green CBS
3rd Ballyclare High

Under 15 Boys:

1st Blackrock College
2nd St. Louis Comm. College
3rd Malone College

Under 13 Boys:

1st Blackrock College
2nd Malone College
3rd St. Gerard’s College

Under 19 Girls:

1st Cavan Royal
2nd Colaiste Muire
3rd Loreto College, Foxrock

Under 15 Girls:

1st Mountrath CS
2nd St. Louis Comm. College
3rd Mercy High

Under 13 Girls:

1st Colaiste Bride
2nd St. Louis Comm. College
3rd Cavan Royal

Primary School Boys:

1st Manulla NS
2nd St’ Ronans NS
3rd Summercove NS

Primary School Girls:

1st Manulla NS
2nd Cloghroe NS
3rd Scoil Bhride

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Pitchford stands alone in Suzhou

by International EventsTTI News

England’s Liam Pitchford has pulled off two impressive victories back-to-back to ensure that all home nations interest is not lost as this years QOROS World Table Tennis Championships heads towards its climax in Suzhou, China. 

Pitchford overcame a legendary figure of European Table Tennis Kalinikos Kreanga in the Round of 128 in an epic battle which you can view here.

In the next round he stepped up again, this time getting the better of WR Number 20 Tiago Apolonia (POR) by a 4-2 scoreline. He will now face former runner-up Joo Sae Hyuk (KOR) in the Last 32 at 07:00 BST tomorrow morning. For live coverage tune in to http://www.ittf.com/itTV/ .

Elsewhere, Europe’s greatest hope and 5th seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov has crashed out, falling to Lee Sang Su (KOR) 4-3 in the Last 64.  

And meanwhile, Pitchford’s team-mate Paul Drinkhall’s challenge ended at the same stage, as he lost 4-1 against Hong Kong’s Chun Ting Wong (WR 47).

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Valiant effort as the Irish bow out in China

by International EventsTTI News

The Irish Men’s Team of Gavin Maguire and Ashley Robinson have bowed out at the opening stages of the QOROS 2015 World Championships in Suzhou, China following some hard battles over the past two days. Despite the tough draws they were faced with, chances were aplenty, as Maguire in particular put up strong resistance before succumbing to quality opposition from Singapore and North Korea. In his opening match against  PANG Xue Jie of Singapore, the UCD man once led 3-2 before eventually going down in seven gruelling sets. His next match was against North Korean CHOE Il, and despite some flashes of brilliance from the Irish Number 2 player, the Korean was that bit too strong as he ran out a 4-1 winner.

Robinson was also faced with a tough group, and in his opening match he faced HMAM Adem of Tunisia. After taking the Opening game 11-3, it looked as if he could push on towards the winning post but the Tunisian struck back to take three extremely tight games on the spin before eventually sealing the match 4-1, which in truth was perhaps an unfair reflection on just how close an encounter it was. In Ashleys second match, he faced top 200 player ALTO Gaston of Argentina. Despite competing from the start, he could never get the foothold he needed to mount a real challenge as he fell in 4 straight games.

This was another invaluable experience here for the Irish Team, and they will no doubt come back stronger as attention now turns to the Senior European Team Championships in Russia in October.

To stay in touch with all of the latest as the World Championships continue in Suzhou, be sure to keep an eye on the ITTF website for full coverage as all the action unfolds.  

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Leinster Emerge from Battle of the Island

by National EventsTTI News

The Junior Interpros took place in Little Island Sports Complex, Cork on Saturday 18th April.

It was Leinster who emerged victorious after the days play as they claimed 3 of the 6 gold medals up for grabs and with it taking home the Victor Barna Shield, edging out a spirited Ulster Squad who went away with 2 golds of their own.

Ulsters Owen Cathcart was awarded for a flawless display in the U15 boys category, earning himself the prestigious Colum Slevin Award for Player of the Tournament.

Owen receiving awards from Joe

See below for a full list of results.

Junior Boys: 1.Ulster ; 2. Connaught ; 3. Leinster

Junior Girls: 1.Munster; 2. Ulster ; 3. Connaught
Cadet Boys: 1.Ulster ; 2. Leinster ; 3. Connaught
Cadet Girls: 1.Leinster ; 2. Munster ; 3. Ulster
U-13 Boys: 1.Leinster ; 2. Munster; 3. Connaught
U-13 Girls: 1.Leinster ; 2.Ulster ; 3. Connaught
Victor Barna Shield ; Leinster.
Colum Slevin Award ; Owen Cathcart

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Walsh Claims Silver Medal at Belgian Junior Open

by International EventsTTI News

Congratulations to Alan Walsh who won a Silver Medal at the Belgian Junior
Open in the team event at Spa, Belgium.

Here Alan teamed up with two of his training partners from time he spent practicing in Germany – Estonias Alexandr Lusin and Moldova’s Andrei Putintica, making them a truly international line-up. They entered the competitin as the third seeded team in the five team group behind Russia and the home team
Belgium. In a tough opening game against the host nation, the Irish/Estonian/Moldovan combination lost out 1/3 with Alan losing out to Florian
Cnudde. In a titanic struggle in the second match against Russia it went down
to the final game with Alan’s team mate Alexandr Lusin winning 16/14 in the
fifth set.

The third match  was also a close affair but the Belgium/Canada combination
won out 3/1 so it was all down to the final game.The Ireland/Estonia/Moldova
combination had to defeat the Belgium/Luxembourg team 3/0 to secure second
spot and a coveted silver medal. At 2/0 up the pressure was on Alan to secure
the third victory. In a confident and powerful display he outgunned
Luxembourgs Tom Hoffman 3/1 to claim the silver medal. 

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Alex & Kitty Thackaberry Trophy Presentation

by TTI News

At the National Junior Championships, the Association introduced two new trophies awarded to the winners of both National Junior events. Both prizes were kindly donated by sponsors and were dedicated to long time servants and ambassadors of the sport in Ireland.

The Junior Boys trophy was won by Zak Wilson, seen here with Alex and Kitty Thackaberry presenting the piece dedicated to their service to the sport – the National Junior Boys Championship in honour of Alex and Kitty Thackaberry.

The Junior Girls trophy was also a sponsored piece, and has been named the Teresa Devanney Trophy after the current Veteran World Doubles Champion.