European Table Tennis coming to LISBURN – Team Announcement
On the back of last month’s successful 3-0 win in their home fixture against San Marino, the Irish men’s team will again be defending their honour on home soil against Lithuania.
As explained previously, The European Table Tennis Union have decided to change the qualification format for the European Championships with teams now having to participate and perform in the European League in order to qualify for the Championships. Ireland have been drawn in a group with San Marino, Lithuania & Azerbaijan, 3 teams that our men are no strangers in coming up against. The group will entail of three home, and three away fixtures for Ireland with the first of those coming this month. Ireland having won the first of these against San Marino, just 10 days ago.
This month will see the second fixture of the group and the Irish Men’s team will do battle with Lithuania. The date for the clash is the 20th of March, in Lisburn Racquets Club in what is sure to be a great spectacle for all involved. Play will commence at 7:30pm. The hall will be open to the public from 6:30pm as the teams go through their warm ups. Entry is free!
The team for the home match will consist of five players. The Irish Table Tennis fans will see the reintroduction of stalwarts Paul McCreery & Ashley Robinson to the team, alongside Gavin Maguire Owen Cathcart & Alexander Gillen. In the build up to the Commonwealth Games at the end of the month, the Northern Irish trio of Paul, Ashley & Owen should be in top form on the back of rigorous training camp in Halmstad, Sweden. This will be accompanied by the dependable Irish number 1 Gavin Maguire who proved the value of his experience against San Marino & his club-mate Alexander Gillen who’s high energy levels are sure to bring something extra to the team.
The European League and specifically the match on the 20th is set to be a great opportunity for Table Tennis in Ireland and we hope that our membership and beyond will take the opportunity to come and see European Table Tennis on their doorstep. Please share this article and help us to communicate with a wider audience in advance of these matches. For more information on the fixture, don’t hesitate to email [email protected]