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Paralympic Table Tennis – US Open

by National EventsParaTTI News

Irish Players celebrate the 4th Of July

A Big Medal Haul from the US Open for Irish Players made the journey home all that sweeter for London 2012 hopefuls, Eimear Breathnach, Rena Mc Carron Rooney, Philip Quinlan and Ronan Rooney.

In their determination for qualification for the PARALYMPIC GAMES IN LONDON 2012 these four players travelled to the US Open in Milwaukee in an event outside of their scheduled program.

It was certainly worth the trip bringing back one of the best collection of medals for Irish players in recent years.

In The Women’s Class One/Two Event Eimear Breathnach won Gold and Rena Mc Carron Rooney Silver.

Men’s Class 1 Philip Quinlan picked up Gold to add to his collection, while team mate Ronan Rooney was very unlucky to be seeded on an extremely tough side of off the draw in Class 2.

Ronan’s disappointment was short lived as both he and Philip picked up Silver medals in the Team Class 1 / 2 events.

In the Ladies Team which consisted of Class 1-5 players, Eimear and Rena put up a strong fight against Class 5 opponents but failed to get out of there group.

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Irish Medal at Senior Schools International

by AwardsInternational EventsTTI News

Focus on the Under 14 & 16 Boys: Report by NPC Gavin Maguire

On paper the 2011 Senior Schools International tournament did not prove to be as successful in terms of medals for Ireland as 2010; however the playing field was considerably stronger with England, Scotland and Wales sending some of their strongest competitors. In the u14 boys Ireland’s “Jonny” Porter and Kevin Hutchinson faced an extremely tough task in their group facing England A, Wales B and Jersey, however the Irish outfit put in strong performances with 3-2 wins over Jersey and Wales B but England A the eventual winners were just too strong for our boys. In the quarter finals they faced another tough challenge up against Wales A only to lose 3-1 after 4 long matches. They did finish the tournament on a high with a final playoff victory over Scotland to finish in 5th place.

The Under 16’s boys, Declan O’ Brien and Ryan Farrell were our most successful team of the weekend with a silver medal, finally succumbing to the team they lost 3-2 to in the group stages, a strong England A consisting of Igor Morais and Matthew Outhwaite. The final’s result was not flattering for the lads as a 3-0 loss after a switch in the order of play unfortunately did not work out for Ireland as Ryan Farrell lost to Outhwaite who he had previously beaten and Morais was just too sharp for O’ Brien. The semi final was the round were the team really showed what they were made of, with a 3-1 victory over another strong England team Liam McTiernan and Adam Harrison. Ballincollig’s Declan O Brien was in blistering form taking both singles in his usual exciting fashion with some unbelievable support and atmosphere coming from the bench. Another interesting fact is that the pair did not lose a doubles match all weekend, which could be the beginning of a formidable partnership.

In the individuals event the cadets were unfortunate to be drawn in some tough groups with both players exiting the event at the group stage with Kevin Hutchinson narrowly losing out in the deciding match after coming back from a 2-0 deficit to his Welsh counterpart. Jonathan Porter put in some good performances and can be happy with his weekend even if it did not reflect on paper, the opposition was heavily armed.

The 16’s again was one of the more successful categories for our teams as Declan O’ Brien dispatched of Matthew Outhwaite 3-0 in the group stages, who he had lost to the previous day. He went on to defeat England’s Liam McTiernan in another exciting encounter and was finally defeated by the eventual and deserved winner of Igor Morais who did not drop a match all weekend. Eastpoint’s Ryan Farrell can be very proud of his efforts in a category one above his actual age group. He defeated Alex Prosser of Wales who he seemed to have no chance against in Saturday’s team event however he raised his game and took the match in a five set thriller to advance to the next round. In a preliminary round he earned a solid 3-1 victory over the ever improving Connor Edwards who Ryan has had some fantastic matches with over the last couple of years. The tournament ended here for Ryan as in the next round he was put out by the now champion, Igor Morais 3-0.

Full Results available: http://www.estta.org.uk/News%2013%20-%20Lilleshall%202011.html

Ireland also won bronze in the Senior Boys and Intermediate Girls Team events. In the Individual events, Decland O’Brien and Ashley Givan both made it to the semi-finals and brough home Bronze medals – fantastic performances from both players.

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Senior Schools International

by International EventsTTI News

12 months ago an Irish team produced an outstanding performance at the Senior Schools International hosted by the ITTA in Limerick. Roll the clock forward and a squad of 12 Irish players travel to Lilleshall, England for the 2011 iteration of this event this weekend.

Last year, the squad (pictured), claimed 4 individual Gold medals and 1 team Gold – a remarkable achievement. Of the 2010 squad, the vast majority remain in 2011 and will take a very positive experience into the Lilleshall event. Speaking ahead of the event, ITTA Performance Director John O’Donoghue stated:

“Following last season’s amazing feat of winning four Golds out of six in the individuals in the event staged in Limerick,we are looking forward to a fantastic Schools International. We have strong teams in all age groups and we are optimistic for a good tournament and while it will be difficult to rrepeat last year’s triumph, we are hopeful of some medal winning performances.”

Boys Preview

In the Senior event, the Irish Boys are Sam Logue and Ashley Robinson. Robinson claimed Gold in the Intermediate Individuals last year, while Logue missed much of last year’s event with an injury and will look to make up for that in 2011. They have been drawn against England B, Scotland B and Guernsey and will certainly look to progress from this group. Robinson is 2nd seed in the Individual event.

In the Intermediates, Eastpoint’s Ryan Farrrell and Ballincollig’s Declan O’Brien team-up. They have a yough group draw and will face England A. Both players are in the top 10 here and will look to have a big impact on the tournament to finish their season off on a high.

Jonathan Porter and Kevin Hutchinson are in the Cadet event and again will face a strong England A selection.

Girls Preview

Munster’s Deirdre Murphy and Connacht’s Sarah Timlin(playing her last event at Junior level) make up the Irish team here and will face both England and Scotland A in the Group. They will have a difficult task against the hosts, but may well cause an upset against the Scots.

At Intermediate Level, that familiar partnership of Ashley Givan and Edel O’Reilly move up an age group from last year and will look to medal over the course of the weekend – they certainly will be pumped up for this event.

Hannah Lynch-Dawson and Emma Ludlow feature for the Cadet Girls. Both will fancy their chances and Lynch-Dawson is the highest seed of the non-English based players.

Further event details are available here:

http://www.estta.org.uk/News%2012%20-%20Lilleshall%202011.html

Best wishes to the Irish squad.

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Hasselt Open

by International EventsTTI News

From the 11th-13th June a squad of 8 Irish Cadet players travelled to Hasselt, Belgium for the International Youth Cup.

This event is frequently attended by Irish squads and allows for lots of matches against opponents from all over Europe. Overall, there were good showings by the team which included some players making their international debut; Evin McGovern, of Club Donic, Gearoid O’Donoghue of Ballincollig TTC and Zak Wilson of Glenburn TTC. Both Boys teams(Cadet/Under 12) finished  16th from about 45 teams. In particular, Ryan Farrell did well in the Singles, losing a close match to be eliminated at the Round of 32.lost close in last 32. Zak Wilson’s performances were also a highlight, winning 13 of his singles and all of the others showed good promise for the future.

Full Squad

Emma Ludlow

Hannah Lynch-Dawson

Ryan Farrell

Kevin Hutchinson

James O’Reilly

Gearoid O’Donoghue

Evin McGovern

Zak Wilson

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ITTA AGM 2011 Report

by AwardsTTI News

The 2011 ITTA Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday 4th June 2011 at Sport HQ, Park West, Dublin. Good attendances of 41 members heard reports of the 2010/11 season’s activities and were updated about current initiatives within the Association.

Key Highlights/Initiatives:

Finance: affiliations for 2012 to remain at same level as in 2011; consideration being given to the introduction of a club affiliation system. Information will be circulated on the proposal shortly.

Schools: All Ireland Primary and Secondary Schools Team Championships were held in Banbridge and Castlebar respectively. Changes to the current format of these events are being considered and will be available in the near future.

Sponsorships: Butterfly and Stiga with a number of small event associated sponsorships, including the Challenger series.

Junior Challenger Series: this series was again highly successful and will continue in the 2011/12 season. A Senior Series will be introduced; 8 Junior Challenger and 3 Senior Challenger events targeted in 2011/12

Umpires:  Umpires Association trained 16 new County Umpires during the season; umpires’ refresher courses planned; revised and updated Sanctions Scheme to be issued.

Need for Volunteers:  there is a need for additional volunteers in all areas of ITTA activity and offers of assistance welcomed, especially for setting up and taking down of venues before events; those interested in lending a hand should contact ITTA Manager, Darren Coombes at [email protected] .

Marketing: significant increase in media and print coverage during season;  

Women in Sport: active increased programme in place involving 27 projects; programme has been rolled out in conjunction with other participation programmes.

Performance:  introduction of High Performance Committee to receive and consider nominations for appointment of HP positions, the Selectors and the HP Programme; Irish International  teams competed in 19 events during the season; Irish Senior Men’s and Women’s Teams competed the World Senior Individuals Championships in the Netherlands; Irish Women’s Senior Team finished in 29th place in European Senior Championships in the Czech Republic.

Good junior results in Senior Schools Internationals and 6 Nations Junior/Cadet Championships.

Coach Education: courses at all levels to be organized in the 2011/12 season commencing with a Level 2 course in September; Marcus McDonnell qualified as an ITTA Tutor.

Child Protection: all working with children in the sport must receive Garda clearance in R.O.I. and from Access NI in Ulster; national children’s committee, involving Branch Child Protection officers to be set up; ITTA policies and practices on children to be reviewed.

Tommy Caffrey Trophy: this award of “Player of the Tournament” at the Senior/Under 21/Veterans Interpros was awarded to Pawel Sulkowski for his performances at the 2011 event

Colum Slevin Award:  this new award was presented to Valentina Puotkalyte as the “Player of the Tournament” at the 2011 Junior/Cadet/Under 12 Interpros.

Calendar of Events 2011/12: Version 1 of the ITTA Calendar on ITTA website.

Review of Junior & Senior Ranking Schemes:  Review of both schemes being undertaken and final drafts to be issued to Branches shortly for comment; thank you to those who have inputted to the reviews

  Elections:

The following were elected:

v  President:                         Mr. J. Hickey

v  Chairman: 

The meeting noted that the Chairman ( J. HIckey) had indicated several months earlier that he would not be seeking re-election and that the intended nominee as his successor had decided not to accept the post, due to a change in circumstances. Mr. Hickey recommended that the AGM leave it to the Board to appoint a new Chairman and this was agreed. At a Board meeting held immediately after the AGM, it was agreed that Mr. Hickey would continue as Chairman, until a successor was appointed, probably at the August meeting.

v  Finance Director:                 Mrs. P. Hunter

v  Technical Director:              Mr. J. O’Donoghue

v  Coaching Director:               Mr. M. McDonnell

v  International Director:          Mr. K. Strong

v  Marketing Director:             Vacant

v  Participation Director:                Mr. B. Haughton

v  Human Resources Director:      Vacant

v  Deputy Life President:          Mr. A. Thackaberry

v  Vice Presidents:  Mr. T. Phillips MBE, Mr. T. Martin, Mr. P. O’Brien

v  Disciplinary Committee:  Mrs.L. Cooke, Dr. W.S. Chan, Messrs. J. Campbell, P. Conneely, C. Higgins & T. Mahaffy

v  Jury of Appeal:  Miss K. O’Hara, Messrs. N. Hitchcock, P. Talini & J. Wilson

ITTA Awards:

The following awards for 2010/11 were presented:

v  Ken Strong Male Coach of the Year:       RICHARD BUTLER

v  Rhanbuoy Trophy Senior Male Player:      JOHN MURPHY

v  Eleanor McKee Trophy Senior Female Player: AMANDA MOGEY

v  Billy Marshall Junior Award:               ASHLEY GIVAN

v  Press Officer of the Year:                KIM SIN YAP

v  Stiga Volunteer of the Year:             CON O’CEADAIGH

v  Joe Veselsky Merit Award:              TOMMY KEENAN

Further information is available from ITTA Secretary, Darren Coombes at [email protected] or by telephoning +353 1 625 1135

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Mum and Daughter evening a huge success

by TTI News

San Carlos NS on Captain’s Hill, the home of Leixlip Table Tennis Club, was the venue for Tuesday night’s “Women’s Only” session. More than 30 women and girls turned up for an evening of table tennis, fun and refreshments. One or two brave men stuck their heads around the door but were quickly told to come back on another night, that the girls were ruling the roost tonight!

 A number of the younger girls play at the club on a weekly basis but last night was an opportunity to bring their Mums, Aunts and Grans along. Players were put into groups and allocated to tables where they played a series of single and doubles matches. The children played eachother, the mums played eachother and then the mums and daughters joined forces to play doubles against their opposite pair. Howls of laughter could be heard from all the tables as points were won and lost. The senior players with experience of playing table tennis were quickly spotted and were handicapped – some were asked to play a number of points with their weak hand and others were made to run to the surrounds and back before playing the next shot! This evened things up and served to creat a noisy, fun-filled atmosphere.

One lady said it was her first time playing table tennis. Her friend’s children play in the club and she was asked to come along and give it a shot. “It’s a really good work out. You wouldn’t think it but you really do burn some calories moving around the table! It’s great fun”.

 After the final matches were played and the presentations to the top four teams were made there was time for a game. The forfit was that the losers would clear away the tables at the end of the evening. The “youngsters” beat the Mums convincenly and went off to have tea and cake while the adults tidied up!

 The evening would not have been possible but for the hard work of Pauline Harper and Michael Keogh. Not only did Pauline organise and promote the whole event but she baked delicious coffee cake and muffins for everyone to enjoy once the table tennis finished.

 Leixlip Table Tennis Club will continue with their Tuesday night session (7pm-8pm for kids and 8pm-10pm for adults) throughout the summer. For more details contact [email protected]

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Mum and Daughter evening a huge success

by TTI News

San Carlos NS on Captain’s Hill, the home of Leixlip Table Tennis Club, was the venue for Tuesday night’s “Women’s Only” session. More than 30 women and girls turned up for an evening of table tennis, fun and refreshments. One or two brave men stuck their heads around the door but were quickly told to come back on another night, that the girls were ruling the roost tonight!

 A number of the younger girls play at the club on a weekly basis but last night was an opportunity to bring their Mums, Aunts and Grans along. Players were put into groups and allocated to tables where they played a series of single and doubles matches. The children played eachother, the mums played eachother and then the mums and daughters joined forces to play doubles against their opposite pair. Howls of laughter could be heard from all the tables as points were won and lost. The senior players with experience of playing table tennis were quickly spotted and were handicapped – some were asked to play a number of points with their weak hand and others were made to run to the surrounds and back before playing the next shot! This evened things up and served to creat a noisy, fun-filled atmosphere.

One lady said it was her first time playing table tennis. Her friend’s children play in the club and she was asked to come along and give it a shot. “It’s a really good work out. You wouldn’t think it but you really do burn some calories moving around the table! It’s great fun”.

 After the final matches were played and the presentations to the top four teams were made there was time for a game. The forfit was that the losers would clear away the tables at the end of the evening. The “youngsters” beat the Mums convincenly and went off to have tea and cake while the adults tidied up!

 The evening would not have been possible but for the hard work of Pauline Harper and Michael Keogh. Not only did Pauline organise and promote the whole event but she baked delicious coffee cake and muffins for everyone to enjoy once the table tennis finished.

 Leixlip Table Tennis Club will continue with their Tuesday night session (7pm-8pm for kids and 8pm-10pm for adults) throughout the summer. For more details contact [email protected]

Para Malmo

National Paralympic Novice Table Tennis Championships

by National EventsParaTTI News

The Galway Speeders Club celebrated its first birthday at the weekend by hosting a National Paralympic Novice Table Tennis Championships. The event was held at the Commercial Boat Club and was attended by competitors from Dublin, Meath, Sligo, Cork and Galway.

The event was a great success and saw the coming of age of some fine players. It is also the culmination of a year of training and practice at the Kingfisher every Saturday morning.

In total, there were five competitions. The Open was won by Christine Doyle from Meath, Silver went to Garreth Greene from Dublin while Bronze was secured by Sligo’s Aidan Hynes.           

The Standing Class was won by Aidan Hynes and silver went to Rao Rapolu from Galway.

The Junior Boys Wheelchair Event was won by Galway’s Jack Colbert and Silver was won by Galway’s Mark Henderson.  Bronze went to Cork with Sean Og Nash. 

The Junior Girls Wheelchair Event was won by Annie O’Callaghan from Cork, while Silver went to Jessica Burke who defeated Shauna Bouquet for Bronze in an exciting match.

The Senior Wheelchair Event was won by Christine Doyle who played exceptionally well all day. There were many notable matches, in particular, Galway’s Jack Colbert lost out narrowly, 11-9 in the fifth set, in the semi-final of the Open to the eventual gold medallist, Christine.

National Paralympic Table Tennis coach Paul Dolan said that “It is really exciting to see such talent within our junior ranks and we look forward to them joining our senior panel”.

The Galway Speeders would like to thank Carnmore Brownies for ball girl duties throughout the day. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Kingfisher at NUI Galway, Galway County Sports Partnership and Galway City Sports Partnership for their support throughout the year.

Also, thank you to volunteers, parents and everyone who assisted the club throughout the year. Table tennis for athletes with a physical disability will resume in the autumn at the Kingfisher and all are welcome to attend.

See below for full results

Open Event

Gold  – Christine Doyle

Silver  – Garreth Green

Bronze  – Aidan Hynes

Standing Class

Gold – Aidan Hynes

Silver – Rao Rapolu

Junior Boys Wheelchair

Gold – Jack Colbert

Silver – Mark Henderson

Bronze – Sean Og Nash

Junior Girls Wheelchair

Gold – Annie O’Callaghan

Silver – Jessica Burke

Bronze – Shauna Bouquet

Senior Wheelchair Event

Gold – Christine Doyle

Silver – Garreth Greene

Bronze – Gary Allen

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Mogey Shines on World Stage

by International EventsTTI News

A strong Irish team travelled to the Netherlands last week to represent their country in the World Individual Championships. Under the guidance of NPC Peter Nilsson, Amanda Mogey produced the stand-out performances for  the team. Below, ITTAWeb summarises the main results of the event:

Mens

In the preliminary group, National Champion John Murphy recorded a straight sets victory over Yemen’s AL-MAHAQERI, before losing 1:4 to PLATONOVof Belarus. Paul McCreery lost both games of his group, losing in a 3:4 battle agains MPEMBA of Ivory Coast and 1:4 to Iran’s AKHLAGHPASAND.

In the consolation event, John Murphy took a 3:0 victory over MUKTAR, before being eliminated by Canada’s HINSE in the last 64.

McCreery was eliminated by Israeli BEN ARI 2:3 to conclude his involvement in the Singles event.

Both players rankings have been affected negatively by this tournament, with McCreery now at 735, while Murphy slips back to 959.

Womens

The youngest member of the squad, Ashley Givan lost both matches in her preliminary group, losing 3:4 to GODOY of Guatemala and in straight sets to Slovenian SAFRAN. Amanda Mogey recorded a win in her preliminary group over Costa Rica’s Martinez, before succumbing to TODOROVIC of Serbia 1:4.

In the consolation event, Givan was eliminated at the first stage, despite a battling performance against VESKOVSKA of MKD. This will hopefully be the first of many World Championships for the Ulster Junior and she will surely benefit from the experience of playing among the world’s elite.

Mogey also entered the consolation event and produced a string of impressive performances.  In the 1st Round, she defeated BALLOUCHY of Morocco 3:0. This set up a tight match with LOPEZ of Guatemala – both players at a similar point on the World Ranking list. Mogey recovered from losing the 1st set to claim a 3:1 victory. In the Round of 32, TCHERESTOVA of Jordan was also put away by a 3:1 scoreline.  A confident Mogey then faced MEDINA of Colombia, a player ranked hundreds of places above her in the ITTF Rankings at WR238. Undaunted, she dismantled the South American 3:0 – without doubt her best international result to date. Mogey’s incredible run eventually came to a halt at the Quarter Final stage – American Prachi eliminating her in straight sets. On foot of her performances, Mogey now moves up almost 100 places in the World Rankings – now at 738. Ashley Givan is ranked at 1134.

Well done to the entire team – most will now enjoy a well deserved Summer break before pre-season in July.

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Ulster Schools League: Finals Report

by National EventsTTI News

Ulster Schools’ League Finals

Valley Leisure Centre

Friday 13 May 2011

Twenty six teams, representing the Winners and Runners-up of the Group rounds of the Ulster Schools’ Leagues, met at the Valley Leisure Centre to fight out the knockout stages of the competition.

Royal School Cavan had the majority representation, seven teams, and we welcomed newcomers St Aidan’s Comprehensive Cootehill to their first finals.  The holders of the U19 Girls, Victoria College, were prevented by examination commitments from defending their title, and the Under 12 Girls event had already been decided at the group stage.  There were a number of close matches: in the Under 14 Boys Quarter-Finals Ballyclare High School edged through over Royal School Cavan by the narrow margin of 225 points to 223 after a 3-all draw, but Royal School won a close match 11 games to 9 against Coleraine Inst in the Under 12 Boys, and in the other half of the Under 12 draw Ballyclare High beat a fancied RBAI 222-202 in the Semi-Final.

In the Under 19 Boys, Fivemiletown College, without their leading light Ashley Robinson, still managed to emerge as champions, led by Jonathan Porter, and the Under 14 Boys was won by a Monaghan Collegiate team with Ryan McConkey playing at Number 1.  High School Ballynahinch pulled off another championship at the Under 12 level, though their Final with Ballyclare High was a close fought affair.

In the Girls events, Hannah Lynch-Dawson led Royal School Cavan to a creditable double of wins in both the Under 19 and Under 14 Girls.

The move from the previous venue of Glenburn Methodist Church Hall to the Valley Leisure Centre made for a much more relaxed and comfortable day, and was a welcome innovation.

Report by Tony Phillips