After Match Day 1 of the Colleges League. it’s all to play for, in both divisions, at the 2nd leg in March.
The familiar name of Dundalk IT sits atop Division 1, seeking to regain the title they won from 2007-2010, and which was taken last year by IT Carlow. Only 3 points separate the top 5 teams in the Division, with NUIG and Queens 2 points in arrears, while DIT and UCC sit a point further back. In Division 2, Queens B lead the way from IT Tallaght and Griffith College. With points for a win doubled in Match Day 2, only one win separates the teams at the top of both tables.
The individual tables largely reflect the team positions, with Letendre of NUIG leading the way with 11 wins out of 11 in Division 1, closely followed by the 3 players from DKIT, while in Division 2 ITT’s Zeile is out in front on 12/12, with Obiomah of Griffith and the Queens team close behind.
16 teams from 11 institutions, including Queens, Griffith, GMIT, Dundalk IT, IT Carlow, UCC, DCU, RCSI, Trinity, Galway/Mayo IT and IT Tallaght took part in Day 1, with most squads rotating between 5 and 6 players in the 3 team slots available in each tie.
Welsh duo Ryan Jenkins and Charlotte Carey won the Men’s and Women’s Singles at last weekend’s Stiga Munster Open in Killarney. The event attracted a very large entry of 232 players including a number of players from England, Scotland and Wales.
In the Men’s Singles Final, Jenkins beat Scotland No. 1 Gavin Rumgay 3/1 and teamed up with Irish player Gavin Maguire to win the Men’s Doubles. Charlotte Carey beat English No. 4 Karina LeFevre 3/2 in a closely fought Women’s Singles Final. In addition, Charlotte won the Mixed Doubles partnered by Maguire.
Results are as follows:
Men’ Singles: Semi Finals: G. Rumgay beat P. Graham 3/0; R. Jenkins beat G. Maguire 3/0.
Final: R. Jenkins beat G. Rumgay 3/1
Women’s Singles: Final: C. Carey beat K. LeFevre 3/2
Junior Girls: Final: E. O’Reilly beat E. Ludlow
Cadet Girls: Final: H. Lynch-Dawson beat K. McGlone
The second running of the Dolly Gavin Memorial team event was held in Galway last weekend with a fantastic turnout. Twelve teams from around the country battled it out for the Dolly Gavin Memorial cup.
There was a great mix of teams in action in two groups of six. The top two teams from each group progressed to the semi-finals.
After an exhausting round of group matches the semi-final places were decided, Anthony Redmond and John Murphy topped group A, setting up a semi-final against group B runners up and defending champions Kevin Mackey and Dave Pemberton.
Robbie Gavin and Anthony Redmond played some stunning rallies in their group match with Anto absorbing the trademark Gavin torpedoes and coming out on top. Terry Dolan rolled back the years taking a set off John Murphy.
The second semi-final saw Group B winners Tibor Pofok and Zatylny Darius square off against Group A runners up Robbie Gavin and Terry Dolan.
Tibor and Zatylny had topped the group having earlier seen off Sam Logue and Sarah Timlin and then Dave Pemberton and Kevin Mackey in the group decider.
In the first semi final Anthony Redmond and John Murphy were in top form with “Anto” chopping like a young Chen Xinhua and throwing in the odd backhand down the line that host Robbie Gavin would have been proud of. John Murphy was in his usual clinical form seeing off Kevin Mackey in a match which had plenty of TV worthy rallies with Kevin throwing in some devilishly disguised drop shots testing the speed and footwork of Murphy. Anto and John would eventually progress with the minimum of fuss, knocking out the defending champions.
The second semi final saw Tibor Pofok and Zatylny Darius see off local lads Robbie Gavin and Terry Dolan 3-0. They played superb table tennis all day with Tibor looking particularly sharp. Robbie and Zatylny had a closely fought match with Robbie losing out 3-2.
The final was well contested with John defeating Tibor 3-1 and Anthony defeating Zatylny 3-1. The eventual champions survived a bit of a scare by securing the doubles after losing the third set from 10-5 up. This proved to be a short lapse with John and Anto securing the match and becoming Dolly Gavin memorial cup champions for 2011.
There were notable performances from Sarah Timlin in her 3-2 loss to Kevin Mackey, from Galway based Florent Letendre in his 3-2 loss to Sam Logue and from Sam Logue who was in great form in the group stages before being eliminated and of course from Anthony Redmond and John Murphy who both remained unbeaten throughout the day. Dave Pemberton and Kevin Mackey put up a stern defence of their title by reaching the semi finals.
Big thanks to everyone who took part and supported the event. We look forward to seeing you all next year.
Photo: Zatylny Darius, Tibor Pofok, Catherine Gavin, Robert Gavin Senior, John Murphy and Anthony Redmond
KARIEM REIGNS SUPREME AT THE ULSTER VETERANS TABLE TENNIS
Kariem and Kevin Devaney
Almost fifty hardened table tennis veterans from all over Ireland travelled to the Glenburn Table Tennis club in Belfast for the Irish Veterans Table Tennis Society Ulster Open Veterans tournament. With players aging from forty to almost eighty, there was a wide selection of events to compete in.
The prestigious Open singles had two Ulstermen in the semi-finals – Brian Orr from Ballymoney’s Osmond club and Willie Cherry from the host club Glenburn. Both players had missed each other in the semi final draw, but the prospect of an all Ulster final was dashed as first Castlebar’s Kevin Devaney defeated Cherry 11-8 in the fifth set, and Athlone’s Kariem Sabir came from a set down to defeat Orr in four close sets. The final was a repeat of the Leinster Open veterans final, and Kariem once again triumphed with an excellent 11-6, 11-8, 3-11, 11-5 win over a battling Devaney.
The Open ladies round robin event final was won by an undefeated Jenny Harrison, with Gillian Richardson runner up and Sharon Brien defeating Pauline Harper 11-6, 11-8 and 11-4 to claim third place.
The Open Doubles was an all County Antrim affair with the Ballymoney duo of Brian Orr and Francis Shirley playing Ballymena’s Academy Strongtower duo of McAllister and Pawel Sulkowski, with the latter winning in four sets.
The restricted veterans for players aged over forty but under fifty, a new event in the calendar, was also an all Ulster affair with Glenburn’s Willie Cherry recovering from two sets down to defeat Academy Strongtower’s Pawel Sulkowski 6-11,10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6. Kevin Devaney, still smarting from his surprise four set defeat by Cherry in the semi-final, won the third place play-off beating Gillian Richardson 11-1, 11-3 and 11-6.
In the over 50s event, Kariem Sabir defeated Ulster hotshot Jimmy Robinson 11-8, 15-13, 11-9 in the semi final to set up a rematch against Martin Pickles in the final. Pickles had defeated Sabir in the Irish Veteran’s Qualification Tournament in August. However, Sabir had his revenge battling past the pimpled rubber specialist 12-10, 11-6, 19-21 and 11-9. Robinson won the third place play defeating Ballyclare’s Ian Davies in straight sets 11-6, 11-8 and 11-5.
Martin Pickles was also in action in the over 60s, where he fell at the semi-final stage to Glenburn legend Norman Nabney 11-7, 11-8 and 11-8. Brian Finn had a real struggle against Portadown’s Barry Dickson, eventually winning the semi-final 10-12, 11-7, 14-12, 11-9. An excellent final was anticipated and it didn’t fail to produce as Nabney recovered from a two set deficit to take the title 11-9 in the fifth set. Dickson had no answer to Pickles in the third spot play-off losing in straight sets 4-11, 6-11, 6-11
Ted Mahaffy retained his over 70s title with an excellent five set win in the final over his old adversary Ronnie Drain winning 11-7, 6-11, 11-1, 7-11, 11-6. Third spot was secured by Ken Ridsdale who defeated Windsor Clarke 11-2, 11-4, 12-10.
The Irish Veterans Table Tennis Society would like to thank Jack Cash and Ted Mahaffy for organising the event, Peter Clarke for overseeing the draw and Norman McBride and Tony Philips for operating the top table and ensuring the events ran smoothly.
UCD TTC has been crowned as the new top team of Irish table tennis, with a comprehensive defeat of all-comers at the National Team Tournament 2011/12 held in IWA, Clontarf on Saturday 19th November. The college team taught all of their opponents a lesson in claiming the ‘Paddy Berrigan’ Trophy with some outstanding play – with National Squad players John Murphy and Gavin Maguire joined by Will Gallagher – this was a team that looked to be favourites from the outset and performed to expected levels in claiming the title. In claiming the title, they were undefeated, indeed only conceding one match in any of the ties to Leixlip TTC. A young ALSAA TTC claimed 2nd place of the six teams entered into the Premier Division, with some strong performances from Sam Logue and Juniors Conor Mullally and Ciaran Kelly.
In the First Division, again the entry was six teams , with make-up teams allowed. This Division surprised many observers as it was the ‘Dangerous Divas’ of Hannah Lynch-Dawson, Elayna McGlone and Katie McGlone all in top form to claim an impressive Divisional title over some of their more senior opponents. The ‘Divas’ have all represented Ireland extensively over the past two years and this experience allied with their obvious talent allowed them to belie their youth to claim the title. They defeated Club Donic (previous Division One champs) to claim the title, with UCD claiming 3rd place.
Congratulations to UCD and to ‘Dangerous Divas’ and well done to all who took part. The ITTA would also like to thank Tony Martin, Tournament referee and the ITTUA Umpires who assisted with the smooth running of the event. Next year’s event will be bigger and better than ever and the challenge has been firmly set – who can knock UCD from their perch as Ireland’s top table tennis team?
The ITTA has confirmed today that interim Chair Joseph Hickey has stood down as Chairman of the Association. Mr.Hickey has been in the Chair for four years and has played a pivotal role in the development of the sport during that time. He will remain heavily involved in the sport as ITTA President, a position he was elected to by the membership in June 2011.
Speaking today, Mr Hickey stated:
“My 4 years as the Chairman of the ITTA was both challenging and rewarding. I was fortunate to be able to work with an outstanding group of dedicated people on the Board and indeed in other roles. Through their efforts, we have seen significant growth in our playing numbers and increasing success at the top levels.
The expansion of our volunteer numbers, to work in conjunction with our very professional staff is, in my opinion, the critical factor in the development of table tennis. Work has been done to increase the number of volunteers but much more is needed.
I am therefore very much looking forward to my continued involvement as the President and to assisting the Board and the Branches to develop our sport”
On behalf of all of the membership, the ITTA Board would like to express their gratitude to Mr.Hickey for all of his efforts in the past few years and we look forward to working with him going forward.
With the next ITTA AGM scheduled for June 2012, the Chair of the ITTA will be shared on a rotation basis over the next 7 months between 3 serving ITTA Directors – Mr.John O’Donoghue(Performance Director), Mr.Kenneth Strong(International Director) and Mrs.Pat Hunter(Finance Director). The rotation is as follows:
John O’Donoghue (Present-end January 2012)
Kenneth Strong (February/March 2012)
Pat Hunter (April 2012 – AGM 2012(June))
Speaking today, interim Chairman John O’Donoghue stated;
“During Joe’s excellent stewardship of the ITTA, he increased the standing of the sport in Ireland and set it on the road to a more professional governance. He worked tirelessly to restore the reputation of the sport with the Irish Sports Council and was instrumental in putting in place professional staff for the organisation for the first time in its history. He focused the organisation on its strategic goals and provided top quality leadership.”
All queries in relation to this or any other matter should be directed to the ITTA Office – [email protected] or on (01) 6251135.
Juniors from Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Galway attended the first ever National Junior Paralympic Table Tennis tournament to be held in Cork. The event took place at the Beech Hill Table Tennis Club. The event catered (in more ways in one – thanks to the culinary skills of the Beech Hill parents) for both Standing and Wheelchair athletes. As there were a number of new players at this event the morning session was devoted to a classification event. The main event took place in the afternoon with three events down for decision.
The event was a great success and a measure of the effort by Rena and Ronan Rooney in Galway and the Beech Hill Table Tennis Club in Cork in providing the necessary facilities, equipment and coaching expertise in order to grow the game of Table Tennis within the Paralympic community.
Beech Hill Table Tennis Club is also greatly indebted to the COPE Foundation for the use of their facilities. The working relationship between COPE and Beech Hill Table Tennis goes back to 2001 and this weekend was a further development in the long and hopefully mutually beneficial relationship.
At Beech Hill there is a great opportunity now for people with physical disability to get involved in table tennis under the guidance of dedicated coaches, while in Galway Rena is looking after Emerging Table Tennis talent. Beech Hill’s dedicated wheelchair ITTA coach, Rory O’Connor is planning a series of training camps for all Junior Table Tennis Paralympic players.
RESULTS:
In the Junior Girls event Annie O’Callaghan from the Beech Hill club took the honours from clubmate Veyda Brickley with Jessica Burke from Galway in 3rd place.
In the Junior Boys event The Honours went to Jack Colbert from Galway with Alex Hennebry and Jack Quinn from Beech Hill in 2nd and 3rd places.
The standing event was won by Paddy Vaughan from Kilkenny with Aidan Hynes from Galway in 2nd place.
In the Doubles event Aidan Hynes (Galway) and Paddy Vaughan (Kilkenny) beat Jack Quinn (Beech Hill) and Jack Colbert Galway) in final
The latest version of the Ulster Junior Ranking List has been published. Click here to download.
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