A fantastic Challenger Tournament was held at the David Lloyd Centre, in Dundonald on Saturday 12th October 2013.
Young players from all over Ulster assembled in Dundonald to take part in a Stiga Junior Challenger Table Tennis Competition. The event is sponsored by the Stiga Table Tennis Equipment Company of Sweden through their Irish Importer, Fitzgerald’s Table Tennis in Dublin.
Gervis Knox was the event Referee and was assisted by Allen Robson and Arnold Morgan.
The emphasis was on fun and participation. In Ranking terms, the top 15 Boys at Junior Irish level and the top 8 at Cadet level, and Girls ranked in the top 8 at Junior level or the top 5 at Cadet level were excluded from entering this tournament, the round robin format ensured players had as lots of games against opponents of all levels from novice through to some of the rising stars of the future in the sport.
Division 1 was hotly contested with both Ballymena’s Dawid Mucka and Coleraine’s Adam Wallace winning four matches each in this round robin format. Adam Wallace recorded excellent victories in straight sets against Vladislav Chuklev, Conor Nugent, Jordan Scott and Matthew Cherry, however lost to Dawid in a close 8-11, 9-11 match. Dawid recorded fine victories over Jordan Scott, Matthew Cherry, Conor Nugent, Adam Wallace however lost a thrilling 8-11, 12-10, 10-12 battle to Ballymena team-mate Vladislav Chucklev. The result went back to count-back with Dawid just pipping Adam to the post for first place. Newtownabbey’s Conor Nugent did well to finish in 3rd position and finished as the highest U13 boy during the day. Along the way he defeated Vladislav Chucklev, Matthew Cherry and Jordan Scott.
Division 2 also went to count back with Malone College’s Jamie Veighey and David Lloyd’s own Jack Hudson winning four matches each. Due to the fact that Jamie defeating Jack in their match, Jamie finished as group winner with Jack finishing in 2nd position. John Dong (Malone College) did well to finish in bronze medal position.
The result in Division 3 was more clear-cut, with Gareth Hughes (Donegall Rd TTC) winning all his matches including a tough 3 set battle against Remick Ryzanoswki. Banbridge’s Matthew McClimonds has shown great improvement in recent months and battled hard to finish in silver position with Glenburn’s Remick Ryzanowski finishing in bronze position.
Conor Smith (Bangor) completely dominated in Division 4 defeating all his opponents in straight sets including a win over Ulster U13 Girls number 1 Lucy Craig (Glenburn). Lucy did well to finish in 2nd position with David Lloyd’s Joe Warden finishing in 3rd position. Special mention must go to Glenburn protégée Sophie Earley, who finished in 4th position in this group and 22nd overall out of 34 opponents. At only 7 years old, she defeated several opponents much older than herself, losing only 9-11 in the final set against Ulster U13 Girls number 1 Lucy Craig and is a good prospect for the future.
Kaiwen Liu (Valley) remained undefeated in Division 5 with newcomer Angus McConnell from David Lloyd finishing in 2nd position. Eight year old Max Skelton from David Lloyd excelled to finish in 3rd position.
Division 6 was hotly contested by a contingent from David Lloyd, all of whom are six years old! Harry Hudson, younger brother of Jack, finished in first position in this group defeating Michael Campione in two straight sets. At six years old, these players displayed fantastic table tennis for their age and are real prospects for the future.
For many players, this was their first real taste of an Ulster competition, many of whom are relatively new to the sport. Tournament referee Gervis Knox praised the players on the standard of play and how each player conducted themselves throughout the day.
Thanks go to all the players and parents for turning up on the day and to the many volunteers who helped throughout the day. Thanks also to Allen Robson and the management at David Lloyd for hosting the tournament at their excellent facilities.
Stiga David Lloyd Junior Challenger Results – October 2013
Division 1
1. Dawid Mucka
2. Adam Wallace
3. Conor Nugent
4. Vladislav Chucklev
5. Jordan Scott
6. Matthew Cherry
Division 2
7. Jamie Veighey
8. Jack Hudson
9. John Dong
10. Philip Montgomery
11. Guarv Sharma
12. Kurtis Spence
Division 3
13. Gareth Hughes
14. Matthew McClimonds
15. Remick Ryzanowski
16. Gary Quantrill
17. Scott Dale
18. James Skelton
Division 4
19. Conor Smith
20. Lucy Craig
21. Joe Warden
22. Sophie Earley
23. Brad Henry
24. Lucy Johnston
Division 5
25. Kaiwen Liu
26. Angus McConnell
27. Max Skelton
28. Rachel Kane
29. Ben McMillan
Division 6
30. Harry Hudson
31. Michael Campione
32. Ethan Campione
33. Tally Appleton
Special Mentions – Highest Finishers in Age Category
U18 Boy: Dawid Mucka
U15 Boy: Adam Wallace
U13 Boy: Conor Nugent
U11 Boy: Matthew Cherry
U9 Boy: James Skelton
U13 Girl: Lucy Craig
U11 Girl: Lucy Johnston
U9 Girl: Sophie Earley