Connacht hosted the latest round of the Stiga Challenger Series, on Sunday 30th January 2011. Breaffy House Hotel Resort hosted the event, which saw 71 players from Mayo, Galway, Sligo, and Westmeath taking part.
In what was a fun atmosphere, with many players playing in their first big event, a fantastic day of table tennis was enjoyed by all. With the youngest player being 7years old and the oldest 17years, there was a good mixture of ages across the groups and also a large number of girls playing in the event. Every player got to play 12 matches throughout the day. Play started at 10.00am and finished at 6.15pm.
The morning session consisted of two rounds of group matches with four and five players per group -17 groups in total per round. The afternoon session saw the players divided into 11 groups of 6 and 7 players per group, with everyone playing each other. Boy and girls played each other in every stage of the event and in some cases the girls outshone the boys.
Connacht would like to thank the Women in Sport and Participation Programme for supporting them in making this event possible as through the funding more players are playing table tennis, and overall table tennis is the winner.
Division 1 1st Martin Williams (Mayo) 2. Daragh Egan 3. Brian Dunleavy
Division 2 1st Brian Durkin (Galway) 2. Martin-Edward Ditchburn 3. Barry Gillen
Division 3. 1st Eamon Corcoran (Mayo) 2. Paul Howley 3. Michelle Hodgins
Division 4. 1st Naill Clayton (Mayo) 2. Keith Hodgins 3. Adam Hardy
Division 5 1st Michelle McEllin (Mayo) 2. Sean McNally 3. James Joyce
Division 6 1st Amanda Taylor (Sligo) 2. Jessica King 3. Emer Gilligan
Division 7 1st Allistar Craig (Sligo) 2. Daniel Foy 3. Padraig Langan
Divison 8 1st Tara Molloy (Galway) 2. James McNally 3. Daniel Plaster
Division 9 1st Shane Foy (Mayo) 2. Niamh Cowans 3. Shauna Lydon.
Division 10 1st Sam Cowans (Westmeath) 2. Sarah Dunleavy 3. Eamon Morris
Division 11. 1st Cain Tigue (Mayo) 2. Karen Costello 3. Ashling Cowans