Posts in category: TTI News

The Ulster Open was staged in the Valley Leisure Centre on 8^th December. Some top class table tennis was on display across all events, details and full results below

Men’s Open

The first surprise of the day came at the Last 16 stage, when Dariusz Zatlyny knocked out Ulster’s Peter Graham in four sets to progress to the Quarter Finals. Zatlyny came in to the event ranked 15 in Ireland and will have been delighted with his win over No.6 ranked Graham.  His run in the event came to an end with defeat to Ashley Robinson who negotiated a difficult path to the Semi-Final, with wins over Robbie Gavin and Mark O’Flynn as well as Zatlyny.

John Murphy was in fine form and he fought off a valiant Keith Knox in a fantastic  5 setter (9, 6, -6, -5, 8) before facing Robinson in the Semi-Final. He looked in fine form and progressed smoothly to the Final with victory over Robinson in straight sets. On the other side of the draw, Scottish International Niall Cameron looked a real contender for the title, particularly when recording a victory over Tibor Pofok at the Quarter Final stage. Cameron then came up against German based Irish international Gavin Maguire. Maguire had lost to Cameron in international competition previously, so would have been delighted with his performance here, claiming a significant victory in a high quality 5-setter, holding his nerve well to win 12-10 in the final set.

The Final was set, Maguire v Murphy. Maguire looked on course to claim the title, claiming the first two sets in some style. However National Champion Murphy fought back, displaying all of the resilience and quality that has deliver 5 Senior National titles. He levelled at 2 sets apiece before claiming the final set and the Ulster Senior Open title.

Women’s Open

In the Women’s Open, again there were some surprises in the early rounds. Following the late withdrawal of No. 1 seed Ashley Givan, youngster Rebecca Finn came through that section of the draw displaying top form in claiming a major win in the Quarter Finals over veteran Teresa Devaney. Devaney is on top form this season, so Finn who is ranked at No. 28 in the Senior Women’s Rankings will be delighted with this result and performance. She faced Jing Yi Graham in the Semi-Final and again will be delighted to have taken a set from a higher seed, but Graham was too strong and looked dominant as she progressed to the Final.

On the other side of the draw, Irish table tennis fans will be delighted to see international Amanda Mogey back on court following her recent injury troubles. Mogey looked to be in ominously good form despite her layoff, claiming straightforward wins over Emma Ludlow and Hannah Lynch-Dawson to set up a final with Graham.

This was a Final to savour, with the players swapping sets to set up a final set decider. The final set was a great test of nerve and again went all the way to the wire, with Mogey eventually claiming the Title with an 11-9 final set result.

Class II

Sparks flew in the Class II event with some fascinating match-ups and some top class performances. Hannah Lynch Dawson in particular moved quickly through the draw, with some impressive victories including an excellent 5 set win over Mark McAllister. She face Wexford’s Brian Devereux in the Semi-Final and almost pulled off an excellent win – claiming the first two sets before Devereux kicked up a gear to fight back and claim all 3 remaining sets.  In the Final Devereux faced Marcus McDonnell, who is enjoying a Renaissance in his playing career this season – McDonnell eliminated Zak Wilson in the last four. We had yet another 5 set Final in the Class II, with Devereux eventually claiming the win – making the long journey home to Wexford a little sweeter.

Veterans

In the Veterans event, it was that man Zatylny again in top form, knocking out both Tibor Pofok and Kevin Mackey to progress to the Final. Here he faced Pat McCloughan – and you guessed it, we had another 5 set battle on our hands, with Zatylny eventually claiming the title to cap off a pretty impressive day’s work.

Open Doubles

In this event it was Ulster pair Ashley Robinson & Keith Knox against Murphy and Cameron in the Final. In 3 closely contested sets (9, 10, 9), Robinson & Knox were crowned Ulster Open Doubles Champions.

Congratulations to all event winners and to all players who took part – as always thanks to the excellent volunteers of the Ulster Branch who delivered the event and in particular Jamie and Stuart McConkey and Tony Phillips.

Full results here.

A very successful Ulster Open was held at the weekend at Valley Leisure Centre. Men’s winner was John Murphy and Women’s winner Ulster’s own Amanda Mogey pictured above with runner up Jing Yi Graham. Full results to follow.

All attendance records were broken at the STIGA National Junior League recently with 40 teams entered from all over Ireland forcing organisers to open a second venue to accommodate all players. In the end, 22 tables were used across both Colaiste Phadraig in Lucan and Roadstone in Kingswood, with 5 Divisions of 8 teams each in action. 

Looking first to Divisions 4 & 5 which were played out in Lucan. There was a great atmosphere at this venue as many of the participants made their debut in a National event, although many would have placed in the STIGA Junior Challenger Series. Fantastic to see also was many of the ITTA funded participation projects in attendance, demonstrating a commitment within these projects to encourage their players towards tournament play. In Division 5, the Final match up was played out between John Bowe’sHigh School and Liam O’Ceallaigh’s Raven TTC. The high quality of table tennis on display here is testament to the work put in by both coaches, and we had several closely fought matches. In the end, Raven TTC claimed the title on a 4-1 score line. Expect to see more of these youngsters over the coming years. Division 4 was also a hard fought affair, and was a battle of the provinces in the Final as Leeside TTC C came up against Mayo C. This one went all the way to the wire, with the match resulting in a 3:3 draw and went to count back. After some deliberation by the excellent Tournament Referee Stuart McConkey, Leeside C (pictured) were crowned champions of Division 4. Coach Ben Haughton was delighted with his young charges and looks to be building a fine club in Leeside TTC. The main feature of these Divisions was the fun nature of the event, with excellent co-operation with our volunteer team and a great attitude from all players. Thanks to John Bowe, Tibor Pofok, Anna Kelly, Tommy Fitzgerald and Stuart McConkey who helped deliver a fine event for these developi

To Roadstone then for our top Divisions – a new venue for Irish table tennis and one we may use again – impressive playing conditions for our top Juniors and nice catering facilities on site for all to avail of. Division 3 was dominated by UCD – with UCD’s D & E teams battling for top spot. There is serious strength in depth in this UCD team, with the D team eventually claiming Gold in a 4:0 win. Division 2 was a battle between Kinneigh B and Leeside A. Leeside were in impressive form throughout, with Alan Walsh, Chloe O’Halloran and James Kelly all in top form as the Cork team claimed a 4:2 victory and the Division 2 Final. 

All eyes then turned to the Division One match-ups, with many of the country’s top Junior Boys & Girls in action. This was a really strong division which featured 3 teams from Club Donic – an impressive representation for the Lucan based club. Donic A topped their group and faced off against UCD A in an all Dublin title decider. UCD had some fine talent on display including Li Shizhao, former Donic player returning to haunt his old team. Kevin Hutchinson, Tobias Wolff and Jack Donnelly also line out for UCD’s top team as they looked to justify their Number One seeding. Donic also had a strong line-up on show, with Conor Mullally, Tom Davis and Ciaran Kelly all in good form. UCD were focussed on the job in hand and dominated the match to record a 4-0 victory and retain their Premier Division title – congratulations to all involved at the club. 

In summary, 2 of the 5 Divisional titles went to UCD, with a further 2 going South to Leeside TTC with one title to Raven TTC. However perhaps the biggest story here was the excellent entry of 40 teams, up from 14 teams last season and the volunteers of the ITTA rising to meet the challenge – Jamie McConkey, Tony Martin, Tony Phillips, Louise Long, Shay Logue, Arthur Brett, Joe Finnegan and Sam Logue were all instrumental to the delivery of a fantastic event in Roadstone – many thanks to the team, your work is greatly appreciated.

Congratulations again to all players who participated – we look forward to seeing you all again next season. Finally, thanks to sponsor Tommy Fitzgerald from STIGA Ireland who had shops in both venues and was worked hard all day!