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Death of Keith Ponting, ETTA President

by TTI News

The Association is saddened to hear of the death of Keith Ponting, President, English Table Tennis Association.  Keith had been a volunteer in the sport for more than 60 years and gained the ultimate honour in the English Association by being appointed President in 2011.

“Many of us who travelled to tournaments in England, including the Junior British League, have met Keith. Our experience of him has been that of an extremely efficient organiser who has always been very helpful to us at all times and a perfect gentleman,” said ITTA International Director, Ken Strong. “We tender our sympathy to his wife, Rosemary, and family.”

http://etta.co.uk/news/keith-ponting-obituary/

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Stiga Challenger: Beech Hill TTC

by ChallengersTTI News

StigaChallenger Event – Beech Hill Table Tennis Club, Cork Sunday 25th June 2012

There was a good turnout for the Stiga challenger event run at Beech Hill Table Tennis Club last Sunday. Players from Cobh, Cork City, West Cork, and Tralee attended. All the players got lots of matches and with coaches taking a back seat for the event it was a very relaxed and enjoyable event for all. The players were classified into groups on ability first then they were divided into three divisions.  

Thanks to event organiser Philip Shaw. On the day Philip was assisted by Rory O’Connor, Mike Nash, Ben Haughton. A number of parents also helped with umpiring.

Event sponsor Stiga was represented by Tommy Fitzgerald who provided all the prizes. The Beech Hill Club is grateful to Tommy for his support.

Results:
Div 1: 1st Usaamah Hussain, 2nd James Barry, 3rd Bogamile Lazaryev
Div 2: 1st Darren Chester, 2nd Zofia Wawrzyniak, 3rd David Halley
Div 3: 1st Andrew Gainey-O’Brien, Roy Martin, Silke Heiney 

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Gold and Silver for Irish at French Open

by International EventsParaTTI News

Photo courtesy of Paralympics Ireland

Many congratulations to Philip Quinlan and Ronan Rooney for their superb performances at last weekend’s French Open. Phillip overcame Switzerland’s Silvio Keller to win Gold in Class 1 while Ronan Rooney secured silver in the class 2 narrowly missing out to world champion Serguey Poddubnyi.  For more information click the following link.  

http://www.paralympics.ie/2012/06/19/irish-medal-at-table-tennis-french-open/

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Senior Schools International 2012: Team/Individual Results

by National EventsTTI News

TEAM

The Irish Under 14 Girls were the top performers within the Irish squad this weekend at the Senior Schools International hosted by Guernsey. Recording some excellent victories, including a 3:2 victory over England A, the team of Hannah Lynch-Dawson and Elayna McGlone took the Team Silver Medal. Joining them on the rostrum was the Under 18 Girls team of Ashley Givan and Sarah Timlin. Both Boys teams made the 3/4th place play off, with Declan O’Brien and Stephen Slater narrowly missing out on bronze following a tight 3:2 defeat by Wales, while  Jersey ended the Under 14 Boys medal chances. Team coaches were Louise Long and John Murphy.

SINGLES

Under 14 Girls: Hannah Lynch-Dawson and Elayna McGlone were again both on form, with both cruising in to the Quarter Finals. McGlone faced a tough match against eventual winner Emily Bolton of England and was beaten in straight sets. Lynch-Dawson defeated Laura Edward in the QF before producing an excellent performance to beat Letitia McMullan to qualify for the Final in a thrilling five-set semi. In the Final, she ran into Emily Bolton – despite pushing her to deuce in the first two sets it was not to be and she claimed a silver medal. Hannah had recorded a good win over Bolton in the Team event and performed superbly over the course of the weekend.

Under 16 Boys: Both Ryan Farrell and Kevin Hutchinson qualified from their groups to the last 16. Hutchinson faced Daryl Gee of England and was eliminated at this stage. Farrell progressed with a fine win over Ronan McDonnell, recovering from a dropped first set to dominate. He then faced Ryan Oyler of Wales in the Quarter Final – a tough draw and it proved too much for Farrell – Oyler went on to claim a silver medal.

Under 18 Boys: A similar tale in the Under 18 Boys, with Declan O’Brien and Stephen Slater both progressing from their groups. Slater fell at the last 16 against Bradley Tuttle in straight sets, while O’Brien was just pipped in a classic Quarter Final against Matthew Outhwaite of England having won his group to claim a last 8 place.

Under 18 Girls: Ashley Givan and Sarah Timlin again both qualified from their groups to the knock-out stage – meaning that all 8 Irish players at the event played in the Main Rounds of the competition. Unfortunately, the team-mates were drawn against each other in the Quarter Finals with Givan progressing. Givan met Anghared Phillips of Wales in the semi-final and lost out to the eventual tournament winner – enough still to record a bronze medal.

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DEDICATION AND ACHIEVEMENTS BY VOLUNTEERS AND PLAYERS REWARDED AT AGM

by AwardsTTI News

The annual ITTA Awards were presented by ITTA President Joe Hickey to their recipients at the ITTA AGM held in Sport HQ, Dublin last Saturday,  the 9th of June 2012.

President of the ITTA, Joe Hickey paid tribute to all award recipients –

“The pursuit and achievement of excellence by players, officials and volunteers requires ability, hard work and determination. The ITTA are delighted to recognise and honour the success of the recipients who have all worked for many years to arrive at the high standards required to be chosen for an award. I have no doubt that their success will be widely applauded and will encourage others to continue with their personal goals“

Liam O’Ceallaigh(pictured)

The Joe Veselsky Award is awarded in recognition of endeavour and achievement in administration; it is only open to members of the ITTA over the age of 35 who have served a minimum of 5 years in administrative positions within table tennis. It is seen to many as a sort of Lifetime Achievement Award, recognition of the recipient’s work for Table Tennis over a long number of years.

This year the Awards Panel decided to award the “Joe Veselsky” to Liam O’Ceallaigh. Liam is a member of the original Raven Club which he has recently reactivated and he has run both the Raven Club and Northway TT Club for approximately 20 years. He has played in and been involved with C.Y.C Leagues for 20 years in Dublin. As a competitor, Liam played in the Junior Interpros in the 1969/70 season and 42 years on he led the Leinster Junior Interpros Squad that claimed the Victor Barna shield this season.  He has organised table tennis in St. Mary’s School in Glasnevin in the Secondary School League in Leinster and Sacred Heart BNS in the Primary Schools League. He has been involved in organising the local Community Games Table Tennis teams for over 25 years winning 2 national titles in the process.

Liam is a qualified umpire and has umpired at the World Special Olympics when they were held in Dublin in 2003. He has served the Leinster Branch for 15/20 years, being a member of the Branch’s Executive Committee and is currently joint Hon. Secretary. All in all Liam has been a great ambassador and volunteer for Table Tennis in Ireland for many years, he is always there to help with setting up and down of halls at competitions or organising exhibitions and training for children. Liam was heavily involved in the early years of the ITTA Women in Sport Programme, bringing his knowledge of the game to bear on the many schools and clubs he became involved with.

Arnold Morgan

The STIGA Ireland Volunteer of the Year Shield is given to someone who gives up their time and skills to table tennis over the year. This year the recipient of the award was Arnold Morgan. Arnold is currently Honorary Secretary of Ulster Branch Executive Committee, this role in itself demands hours and hours of time dealing with correspondence from around the Branch and Sport NI requirements. He coaches regularly in Primary, Secondary Schools and Clubs around Banbridge and recently qualified as an ITTA Level 2 coach. He has worked tirelessly to get the school principals to agree to add table tennis to their “curriculum”. The new club he set up recently in Banbridge has brought many new children into our sport with a large number of children in attendance. Recently he has become proactive in introducing some special needs children into Table Tennis.

Arnold was appointed Team Manager for the Sainsbury’s 2012 School Games held in London in May and attended several meetings “across the water” leading up to this prestigious event. He is the Ulster Branch Representative and main organiser of the Table Tennis event for the World Police and Fire Games being held in Belfast in 2013. This event is the third biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics and Football World Cup. Last August he was the main organiser of the table tennis event at the UK Transplant Games which was held in Belfast. He has been involved in an Ulster Branch working group on Affiliations. As a County Umpire he is regularly seen in the umpire’s chair at many events around Ireland. He is always on hand to move tables and help in whatever way is required.

Edel O’Reilly

The Billy Marshall Award is awarded to the Best Junior/Cadet/Under Age player of the season. This year the award went to Edel O’Reilly from Ballinacollig in Cork. Edel had a truly successful season at both Junior and Senior Levels. She is the current Irish Junior Girls Number 1 and won her first National Titles this season in the Junior Girls and the Under 21’s Women’s Events. This season she won the Munster Open Junior Girls event. Edel was selected on the Irish Senior Women’s Team which travelled to the World Team Championships in Dortmund this year. She performed fantastically well in winning 60% of her matches which helped the team finish 59th from 90 teams. Following her success at the World Team Championships she went in to the World Senior Rankings for the 1st time at No.781, an incredible start to her international senior career. Looking ahead Edel’s performances have meant she is a member of the squad chosen to represent Ireland at the European Junior Championships in Austria in July. 

The complete list of the recipients of the ITTA Awards 2012 is:

Anna Kelly Female Coach of the Year Award: Louise Long

Ken Strong Male Coach of the Year Award: Richard Butler

Press Officer of the Year: Jamie McConkey

STIGA Ireland Volunteer of the Year Shield: Arnold Morgan

Billy Marshall Award (Best Junior/Cadet Player of the Season): Edel O’Reilly

Eleanor McKee Trophy (Female Player of the Year): Amanda Mogey

Rhanbouy Trophy (Male Player of the Year): Paul McCreery

Joe Veselsky Award: Liam O’Ceallaigh 

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Jamie’s Journey to London 2012

by TTI News


Nineteen year old Jamie McConkey from Monaghan is a Bsc Business management student, an All-Ireland School’s U18 Bronze medallist and a county umpire. And, for the London 2012 Olympics he will be an official Games Maker.

Games Makers will undertake a wide range of roles throughout the Olympics and Jamie’s role with be as part of the technology team for the Table Tennis events. No stranger to the running of tournaments, Jamie has previously been involved in organising the Fermanagh Senior and Junior Opens, the Ulster Junior and Senior Opens, the Irish Junior Classification, the Ulster Senior, and the Junior Closed, among other tournaments. Jamie has also held roles including Fermanagh Press Officer, for the FTTA Committee, and Ulster Schools Secretary, for the Ulster Branch Executive Committee.

With such a history of multi-faceted involvement in table tennis, Jamie decided to apply for the role of Games Makers for the 2012 Olympics around the time of the 2010 South African World Cup, saying that “no event like this will ever come as close as the Olympic Games in London, I wanted to be involved”. The application process involved both forms and a telephone interview, and with over 250,000 applicants for only 70,000 roles, it was a lengthy process. However Jamie finally discovered he had been successful in late 2011.

In advance of being awarded the role, Jamie, along with other Games Makers were given roles at the test events in the London Prepares series, where he was also given a role at the Table Tennis event; this happened to be the ITTF Pro Tour Finals in the Excel Centre in London. While Jamie was in London he received training and was involved in statistics; his role was shot count however he may have a different role for the Olympics. For the shot count role he was paired up with someone else and one person from each pair conducted a manual shot count with pen and paper, while the other used laptop software, they then swapped after each match. The advantage of shot count is that it allows coaches to work out who hit the ball last, so if the count was three and the server won the point, it meant he hit a winner on the third ball. This allows coaches and players to have tactics going into a game and work out how their opponent might play, based on past data.

On 5 February 2012 Jamie went to London, to Wembley Arena, for orientation training, unfortunately this was the weekend London was under snow. Jamie arrived at Dublin Airport at 3am only to be told his flight was delayed and it looked as if he might miss the event. However, Ryanair were operating an earlier flight and allowed him a seat on their flight – Jamie has vowed never to slag Ryanair again!

He eventually made it to Wembley in time for the event, after a slow journey via both train and the tube. The event itself had over 4,000 Games Makers from across different sports, each with different roles; Jamie was seated between a woman from the press team at the Shooting Events and another who was working in Accreditation at the Olympic Village. The event was in essence a thank you from LOCOG and also to explain what was expected from the Games Makers. Guests at the event included comedian Eddie Izzard, the Olympic athlete and BBC pundit, Jonathan Edwards, and Chairman of LOCOG, Lord Sebastian Coe, who is also a 1,500m Double Olympic Gold Medallist.

Jamie will attend further ‘Role Specific’ and ‘Venue Specific’ training sessions in both June and July. With the games so close now Jamie says “I am really getting excited about the event and am so proud to have the opportunity to be part of the biggest sporting event in the World.”

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Starball Junior Ability League Round 5

by ChallengersTTI News

Winners at the Starball Jun Ability event Round 5

Round 5 of the Laois Starball Junior Ability League took place on April 14th in Castletown.  The event had another fine attendance with 10 divisions in all. 

Results were as follows:

Division 1 –  1st  Dylan Grace,   2nd  Luke Dempsey
Division 2 –  1st  Justynne Fabian,  2nd  Daniel Owczarek
Division 3  – 1st   Matthew Taylor,   2nd  Paudi McDonald
Division 4  – 1st   Brian Whelan,     2nd   Paddy Vaughan
Division 5  – 1st  Nicole Moynan,    2nd-Jack Carroll
Division 6.   1st  Benjamin Duffield  2nd Tiegan O’Connor
Division 7    1st  Hailey Hayes,    2nd  Sarah O’Connor
Division 8.   1st  Robbie Yocotan,  2nd Caoimhe Flannery
Division 9    1st  Una Rafter,     2nd  Adam Shirley
Division 10  1st John Moynan,  2nd Jessica Shirley

Many thanks to Jimmy Hayes for organising and running this event. 

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Fermanagh Table Tennis Season Results

by TTI News
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Table Tennis in Fermanagh is thriving as can be seen from the huge number of events run in the county throughout the season.  Great credit must be given to the organisers, players, coaches, and officials who volunteer their time and effort to help out.   Fermanagh Table Tennis Association would like to take this opportunity to thank all who played a part in making the season a success.  Please click here to view a list of all the winners for the past season.