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Dolly Gavin Memorial Cup 2013 Results – Gavin and Dolan victorious.

by National EventsTTI News

Robbie Gavin, Terry Dolan (Winners), Francis Gavin nephew of Dolly Gavin presenting the cup, Kariem Sabir and Dariusz Zatylny (Runners Up)

Dolly Gavin Memorial Cup Results – Gavin and Dolan victorious.
The Dolly Gavin Memorial Cup Table Tennis Team event took place on Saturday 27th April in Galway. With a number of late withdrawals Galway duo Robbie Gavin & Terry Dolan emerged as second favorites to win the event behind former finalist Dariusz Zatylny and his new partner Kariem Sabir.
The event was played in a Round Robin format with each team playing six matches. After a long session of matches Zatylny / Sabir and Gavin / Dolan had won all of their matches ensuring that the last match of the session would be the final between the top two seeds. Marek Grala and Ireneusz Trubilowicz took third overall with Sabina and Brian Devereux in fourth.
The final began with Robbie Gavin taking on Dariusz Zatylny. Zatylny has had a great season to date and had recorded a couple of recent wins over Gavin, but Gavin seemingly determined to get his hands on the trophy, produced some of his best table tennis of the season to get his team off to a flyer. After winning a gruelling 16-14 first set where he threw everything at the Zatylny defence, Robbie stepped it up and won the second 11-3, another close 13-11 set saw Robbie record a 3-0 victory and turn the match in favour of the Galway duo.
Next up was Terry Dolan against his Connacht team mate and sparring partner Kariem Sabir. After plenty of long rallies featuring the trademark blocking of Dolan, he raced into a 2-0 lead with Sabir hitting back to make it 2-1. Dolan was not to be denied eventually securing the match 11-5 to put his team 2-0 in front.
The third and what proved to be decisive match saw Robbie Gavin take on Kariem Sabir. It was a very tense match with defeat not an option for Sabir and Gavin knowing a win would secure the cup. They shared the first two sets, with Gavin winning the third 11-8. Gavin surrendered a big lead in the fourth set and with the winning post in sight, the nerves were showing. A couple of bombs from Gavin eventually pulled him over the winning line 13-11 to move his team into an unassailable 3-0 lead to secure the cup for the first time. Terry Dolan later secured a 3-1 win over Zatylny.

Thanks to all who supported the event and we look forward to hosting it again next season.

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All Ireland Secondary Schools Finals

by National EventsTTI News

Eighteen teams braved the wet weather yesterday to travel to UCD, Belfield for this year’s All Ireland Secondary Schools Finals.  Blackrock College dominated the boy’s events winning gold in all three age categories.  The girls event was much more evenly spread with Royal School Cavan winning the U18s, Balla Secondary School, Mayo taking the U15 gold and St. Louis Community School, Mayo going home with the U13 gold.  Click here for full results. 

There was lots of real talent on show with many of the competitors already featuring on the ITTA Junior ranking lists.  Many thanks to tournament referee Con O’Ceadaigh,  Umpire Vivienne Barry and to all who helped ensure the day ran like clockwork. 

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Live Update from Primary Schools Internationals

by International EventsTTI News

Individual Event

Click here for the Boys Singles Open Event Full Results

Click here for the Girls Singles Open Event Full Results

Click here for the Boys Singles Consolation Event Full Results

Click here for the Girls Singles Consolation Event Full Results

Click here for the First Round Groups for the Individual Event

For the Official Full Event Programme Click here 

Boys Team Event

TEAMS IRL JEY ENG SCO WALGGY IMNWonDrawLost
IRELAND###9-11-99-19-16-410-0501
JERSEY1-9###0-105-53-72-86-4114
ENGLAND9-110-0###10-09-18-210-0600
SCOTLAND1-95-50-10###4-62-87-3114
WALES1-97-31-96-4###2-810-0303
GUERNSEY4-68-22-88-28-2###10-0402
ISLE of MAN0-104-60-103-70-100-10###006

1) England, 2) Ireland, 3) Guernsey, 4) Wales
Click here for Results from Session 1. Click here for Results from Session 2.Click here for Results from Session 3.Click here for Results from Session 4.Click here for Results from Session 5.Click here for Results from Session 6.Click here for Results from Session 7.

Girls Team Event

TEAMS IRL ENG SCOWALGGYWonDrawLost
IRELAND###9-18-210-010-0400
ENGLAND1-9###10-06-410-0301
SCOTLAND2-80-10###5-510-0112
WALES0-104-65-5###10-0112
GUERNSEY0-100-100-100-10###004

1) Ireland, 2) England, 3) Scotland, 4) Wales (Countback between Scotland and Wales was 22-19 in sets in the match between them)

Click here for Results from Session 1

Click here for Results from Session 2

Click here for Results from Session 3

Click here for Results from Session 4

Click here for Results from Session 5

Follow the Action On Twitter @IRE_TableTennis or Facebook

Dont forget to use the #PSI13 and it will appear on the Twitterwall here in the Arena, support your nation 

Heres Whats up for Grabs in the Team Event

Boys Team Perpetual Shield 

2003 – England

2004 – Wales

2005 – England

2006 – England

2007 – England

2008 – England

2009 – Scotland

2010 – England

2011 – England

2012 – Ireland

2013 – England

Girls Team Perpetual Shield 

2005 – England

2006 – England

2007 – England

2008 – England

2009 – England

2010 – England

2011 – Ireland

2012 – Ireland

2013 – Ireland

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Malacky Open Update

by International EventsTTI News

Two of Ireland’s top young talents took part in the Malacky Open in Bratislava recently, and under the supervision of coach John Murphy performed outstandingly at a very high level of European competition.

In the 2002 Boys category, Owen Cathcart progressed all the way to the Quarter Finals before losing out to John Ouebode of Italy. Cathcart almost clinched a last four place and was 2-1 in games and 10-7 up in the 4th, before eventually going down 11-8 in the 5th. The Italian went on to claim a sliver. Coach Murphy was delighted with Cathcart’s performance which included wins over three Slovakian players and an impressive win over Israel’s Philipenko in the last 16. Cathcart will have benefitted tremendously from this experience, which came on the back of a week training with Europe’s finest young talents at the Eurokids training camp.

Katie McGlone also made it through her group and to the Quarter Finals of a very strong 2000 Girls Category, eliminating Austrian Lietner in the group and as well as accounting for local opposition. She eventually lost in the last 8 to Marta Nagypal of Hungary who went on the claim gold in this event. Katie’s goal before the tournament was very clear; leave with a medal. That is what she did in the 2000 girls doubles partnering Marta Nagypal. In the quarter finals they beat a strong Italian pairing before losing out to eventual winners from Slovakia 3-1. This was a good result for Katie as it is never easy to leave European events with medals.

Both of these young players have shown not only with the results but with manner of how they achieved these results that they are competing and beating the best players in Europe. Congratulations to both players and coach.

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Connacht Junior Open 2013: Report

by National EventsTTI News

153 players from all over Ireland gathered in the West of Ireland last weekend for the final ranking event before the Butterfly National Junior Championships. Ranking points were at stake as well as prestigious ranking event titles. A strong team of volunteers came together to set up the playing venue in Breaffy House for the Connacht Junior Open and Tournament Referee Jamie McConkey directed proceedings.

In the Under 17 Boys, there was some early upsets in round 1 – UCD’s No.38 ranked Charlie Fitzgerald performing well to finish ahead of No.7 ranked Kieran Reilly and Roman Puotkalis to claim a good group win.  Also in form was Donic’s Luke Dempsey who claimed Group wins in both the 1st and 2nd Round Groups to progress to the knock-out stage. He then went one better and advanced to the Quarter Finals with a fine win over Eoin Foran.  The first big seed to fall was Kevin Hutchinson, who lost out to Donic’s Conor Mullally. Top seed Ryan Farrell looked to be cruising with wins over Tobias Wolff and Tom Davis in the semi-final.  In the Final he faced Glenburn’s Zak Wilson who had eliminated Mullally in the last four. Farrell kicked on a gear here and claimed the title with a straight sets victory.

In the Junior girls, initial groups went according to seeding with the exception of Elayna McGlone who finished ahead of the higher ranked Erin Thompson to claim a group win. In the 2nd group, 6th seed Laura Finn was eliminated at the hands of her younger sister Rebecca, with all of the other seeds progressing to the Quarter-Finals.  In the top half of the draw, Emma Ludlow ended Rebecca Finn’s involvement prior to an epic 5 setter against top seed Chloe O’Halloran, which Ludlow came through with a storming finish to claim the final game 11-2. The other end of the draw was dominated by Katie McGlone, who was keen to add to her Ulster Junior Open title this year. McGlone eliminated her sister Elayna in the Quarter Final before another 5 set semi-final win over Hannah Lynch-Dawson to set up a Final against Ludlow. Ludlow produced some top class table tennis to dominate the Final and claim her first Junior Ranking title win of the season.  This is a fiercely contested category that many will be eagerly anticipating at the National Juniors in April.

In the Cadet Boys, it was Ryan McConkey and James Kelly who upset the seedings, both players ranked 16 in the country but progressing to the last 8 in style in Connacht. However the big four seeds all progressed to the semi-finals to set up some eagerly awaited clashes. First up was top seed Zak Wilson who was pushed all the way by an in form Alex Gillen – Wilson eventually got across the line claiming the fifth game 14-12. The other semi-final also went to five sets, with Brian Dunleavy in familiar home territory just edging out Donic’s Evin McGovern. On to the Final and Dunleavy raced into an early lead to set up a potential shock against Wilson who has claimed all three ranking titles on offer to date this season. Wilson dug in however, working hard to achieve first parity, and then a fine final game performance to secure the title, a remarkable clean sweep to date this season for the Glenburn youngster.  

In the Cadet Girls, It was unseeded Marie Williams showing some very promising form in advance of the Primary Schools International with a notable win over Kerry O’Mahoney – a big shock on the day. Williams eventually lost out at semi-final stage to Katie McGlone.  McGlone has looked strong at this level all season and faced Kate Whelan in the Final where she was imperious, claiming the Connacht title in straight sets and cement her Number One position in the Butterfly National Rankings ahead of the Nationals.

In the Under 12 Girls, it is a long time since anyone has beaten Mountrath TTC’s Kate Whelan and she again dominated this event, claiming the title in style over international team-mate Marie Williams. In the Under 12 Boys, 3rd seed James Kelly was in fantastic form to claim his first provincial title of the season, claiming his win in a hard fought match against Dylan Grace. In the Under 10’s, Sophie Kenny of Carlow TTC and Thomas Joyce of the Mayo Academy were the title winners.

Congratulations to all players and title winners, thanks to the Connacht Branch and Tournament Referee Jamie McConkey.

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McGlone and Cathcart Battling in Bratislava

by International EventsTTI News

Two of Ireland’s most promising young players are in European action this week at the Slovak Open which is held just outside Bratislava in Slovakia. Katie McGlone and Owen Cathcart with coach John Murphy are entered into this event which brings together some of Europe’s top young talent and is linked to the ETTU’s Eurokids training camp which Cathcart was also in attendance at. In the Mini Mini Cadet Team event, cathcart teams up with Lithuanian talent KARAPETJANAS DANAS in the event which kicks off today. McGlone teams up with the Hungarian Kitty Korda as they battle against europe’s finest young talents.

Stay tuned to ITTAWeb and social media feeds for latest results and look out for an event report from coach Murphy next week.

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Medal Haul for Irish at Junior/Cadet 6 Nations

by International EventsTTI News

A strong Irish team travelled to Preston last weekend with the focus on performing to the best of their ability and bringing home as much silverware as possible. The team worked hard all weekend and had many Irish fans supporting them from afar thanks to the fantastic ETTA streaming service. Congratulations to all members of the squad on a successful weekend, see main results event summary below;

Junior Boys

Team

Ryan Farrell of Eastpoint and Kevin Hutchinson of UCD TTC represented Ireland in the Junior Boys. Wins over Isle of Man, Scotland, Guernsey set the Junior boys up for a good weekend(team pictured celebrating a big point thanks to ETTA Facebook)

A really tough loss to Wales, with 3 dramatic matches going to 5 sets with Farrell and Hutchinson just pipped to the line each time. England also claimed a victory over the Irish who finished tied in 2nd place, but moved to a cruel 4th on countback to lose out on a medal.

Singles

Both players will be disappointed to have not made the main draw, bur Farrell beat Griffiths of Wales to claim the consolation title.

Junior Girls

Team

Ashley Givan and Hannah Lynch Dawson combined in the Junior girls – this looked a strong combination going in to the event. Wins over Scotland and Guernsey were enough to claim a bronze medal for the girls, who may be somewhat disappointed to go one place further up the podium following a tough 3:2 defeat to England. Wales claimed the title to break up an English stranglehold on the other 3 titles.

Singles

Hannah Lynch Dawson was in fine form in Sunday’s event, claiming 2nd place in a tough group to eventually face top seed Charlotte Carey of Wales in the semi-final. Carey was just too strong for Lynch-Dawson who will be delighted with her bronze model having had a fantastic domestic season.  Carey went on to claim the Junior title.

Cadet Boys

Team

Wins over Isle of Man, Wales and Guernsey represented an excellent weekend for the young duo of Gillen and Wilson. Losses to Scotland and England eliminated them for contention for Gold, but they will be quietly pleased with registering a bronze medal for Ireland

Singles

Zak Wilson was in electric form in the group stage and claimed a fine win over England’s Alec Ward. Wislon was unlucky to be placed 2nd in the group following a countback

Alex Gillen missed out on qualification to the main draw but claimed the consolation title with a victory over Heyden from Wales.

Cadet Girls

Team

Wins over Wales, Scotland and Guernsey was enough for this promising Irish team of Rebecca Finn and Katie McGlone to claim a silver for Ireland and the best result of the weekend for the irish squad, with England eventually claiming the title.


Singles

McGlone powered through her group claiming top spot. She eventually lost out to Lucy Elliot of Scotland at the semi-final stage but will also be delighted with her bronze medal winning performance. Overall a good weekend for the Irish, with 3 Team bronze and 2 Singles bronze medals. Thanks to NPCs Sarah Timlin and Arthur Brett for all of their work with the team.

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International Womens Day 2013

by TTI News

Not that we should ever need an excuse to celebrate our female players but International Women’s Day gives us an ideal opportunity to look back at the 2012/2013 season to date and pay tribute to the achievements of the women of Irish Table Tennis.

August ‘12 saw two of our Paralympians, Rena McCarron Rooney and Eimear Breathnach in action at the 2012 London Olympics. Na Liu represented Team GB and posted some impressive results in a difficult draw.

Following on from her Olympic experience Na Liu teamed up with Ashley Given to bring home gold from the Senior Six Nations for the second year in a row.  Not only did they win the Women’s competition but their performances contributed to Ireland winning the Combined Team Championship Gold.

The Women’s British League team of Sabrina Devereux, Emma Ludlow and Hannah Lynch Dawson had some outstanding performances over two weekends culminating in a thrilling promotion decideder in February ‘13 which saw them gain promotion to Division One.  We’ve no doubt that they will build on this experience and enjoy further success next season.

The Irish Veterans Ros Carpenter, Gillian Richardson and Sharon Brien were in fine form also in February finishing in 2nd place at the Veterans British League in Doncaster. Teresa Devaney had an extremely successful trip to Turkey for the Turkish Open winning Gold in both the Singles and the Doubles before taking home silver in the mixed doubles. Devanney is still flying high in the Women’s Singles rankings domestically and is a fantastic role model in terms of her commitment to the sport.

The Butterfly National Senior Championships last weekend in ALSAA produced some really nail biting matches with Ashley Given eventually coming out on top beating Amanda Mogey in the final. Katie McGlone made it all the way to the semi-final, a remarkable achievement for the young cadet.


It was not just on the High Performance end of things that we saw our women in action with record number of female players attending the Stiga Junior Challenger tournaments all around the country. The schools programmes funded through Irish Sports Council funding are going from strength to strength with more girls getting involved, joining clubs and progressing up the rankings.

History was also made at administrative level this year, when the ITTA elected its first female Chair in Pat Hunter. Speaking today, Pat stated;

“Sport is a very powerful social change tool because it teaches women confidence, self esteem and strength. We are delighted on International Women’s Day to celebrate the achievements of our female athletes – the importance of positive role models for young girls in sport is often underestimated and we are lucky in our sport to have some top class female players for our young players to look up to and learn from. We have some top class female athletes coming through our system and have made significant efforts through our Women in Sport programme to drive female participation in our sport upwards. We are very grateful to the Irish Sports Council who are the main funder of this programme. So to all our female athletes – keep up the good work!”

All in all it has been a successful year for Ireland’s women, long may it continue!

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Live Updates from Day 2 of the Butterfly National Championships

by National EventsTTI News

Check out our Twitter and Facebook pages for more pictures and comments.

Why not get involved in the debate using #IrishNationals

Dont forget to take part in our facebook poll and choose who you think will win the Irish National Championships

Mens Singles

Butterfly Irish Mens Singles National Champion is Paul McCreery. 

He beat Gavin Maguire 8-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-9, 12-10

Click here for the Knockout Rounds Update to Quarter Finals

Click here for the full Results from the Knockouts

Ladies Singles

Butterfly Irish National Champion for the third time is Ashley Givan. 

She beat Amanda Mogey 11-3, 9-11, 12-10, 11-2, 11-8

Click here for the Full Results from the Ladies Singles

Class II

Butterfly Irish National Class II Champion is Geoffrey O’Connor.

He beat Ciaran Kelly 11-3, 11-9, 11-7

Click here for the full Results of the Groups from Class II

Click here for the full Results from the Knockout Rounds of Class II

Wheelchair Doubles

Buttefrly Irish Wheelchair Doubles National Champions are Philip Quinlann and Ronan Rooney. 

They beat John Dempsey and Kathleen Reynolds 11-9, 2-11, 11-8, 11-9

Click here for the full results. 

Mens Doubles

Butterfly Irish Mens Doubles National Champions are Paul McCreery and John Murphy.They beat Ashley Robinson and Keith Knox 11-5, 11-8, 11-8

Click here for the Full Results from the Mens Doubles

Mens Wheelchair Singles

Butterfly Irish Mens Wheelchair Singles National Champion is Ronan Rooney. He beat John Dempsey in the final 11-8, 11-8, 11-9

Click here for the Full Results from the Mens Singles Knock-out

Click here for the Full Results of the Mens Wheelchair Singles Groups

Ladies Doubles

The Butterfly Irish Ladies Doubles Champions are Ashley Givan and Amanda Mogey.

They beat Sarah Timlin and Hannah Lynch-Dawson 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3

For Full Results Click here.

Mixed Doubles

The Butterly Irish Mixed Doubles Champions are Amanda Mogey and Paul McCreery. 

They beat Ashley Givan and Gavin Maguire 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8

For Full Results Click here.

Ladies Wheelchair Singles

The Butterfly Irish Ladies Wheelchair National Champion is Kathleen Reynolds.

Runner-Up is Rena McCarren Rooney and Third Place was Christine Doyle.

For Full Results click here. 

Ladies Singles Perpetual Trophy

Up for Grabs today is the Eddie Limberg Perpetual Trophy for the Ladies Singles. 

Since this current trophies induction in 2005 the winners have been:

2005 Tara Fusco

2006 Leslie Harrington

2007 Amanda Mogey

2008 Amanda Mogey

2009 Na Liu

2010 Ashley Givan 

2011 Ashley Givan 

2012 Amanda Mogey

2013 Ashley Givan

Mens Singles Perpetual Trophey

Up for Grabs in the Mens Singles today is the Eddie Limberg Pertual Trophy

This current Trophy dates back to 2000 and past winners are:

2000 Alan Monks

2001 Alan Monks

2002 Andrew Dennison

2003 Jason Sugrue

2004 Andrew Dennison

2005 Brian Fitzgerald

2006 Brian Fitzgerald

2007 John Murphy

2008 John Murphy

2009 Gavin Maguire

2010 John Murphy

2011 John Murphy

2012 John Murphy

2013  Paul McCreery