A great weekend of table tennis saw the opening event of the domestic season take place in Dublin. With 120 competitors taking part in the Classification Event, there were some fantastic matches and some real breakthrough displays.
Qualifying Event – Men
The Men’s Qualifying event was fiercely contested, with five qualifying places available to a field of 80 players.
Gervis Knox(NR: 17) lost out to Tibor Pofok(NR: 35) in the Last 16, the CYM Terenure man utilising all his experience to close out a really good victory over the Ulsterman, who many fancied to progress to the Classification Final proper. Pofok will be delighted with this result, which also included wins over Dave Pemberton and Stephen Slater. Other fancied players included Galway’s Robbie Gavin, whom lost out at the last hurdle to Artur Lewanczuk(NR:43) in one of the big surprises of the day. Favourite to qualify was Corey O’Rourke, who delivered in style, recording some good wins over Maciek Syzmanski, Neil Irwin and Will Gallagher. The final qualifying spot was taken up by Stephen Slater, with some smashing wins over Anthony Redmond, Gervis Know and Neil Irwin.
However it was Latvian player Vladislavs Agurjanovs who was the sensation of the day, easing through qualifying without dropping a match. He was surely a player to watch in the Finals.
Click here for full Men’s Qualifying Results.
Qualifying Event – Women
The Women’s Qualifying event also provided plenty of intrigue and some fascinating matches. With two to qualify, every match was important. The 1st Round went according to seeding until Edel O’Reilly provided a shock in Group D to defeat Sarah Kenny(NR:16) and Teresa Devanney(NR:18) to progress to the 2nd Round. Here she was faced with a difficult task in favourite to qualify Sabina Devereux as well as young talents Katie McGlone and Meabh Slattery. The Ballincollig player, recently returned from the European Youth Championships showed no mercy in defeating Devereux(NR:8) in straight sets and finish top of the group to qualify. Jean Wyse took the 2nd qualifying spot with wins in very entertaining matches against Niamh Tracy and Annalise Walker, both of whom took two sets from Wyse.
Click here for full Women’s Qualifying Results.
Finals – Men
The Men’s Finals was National Champion looking in outstanding form, taking 7 wins in the group stage with only Peter Graham providing a major challenge, taking two sets from the Dubliner. Eastpoint’s Gavin Maguire also looked in top form again, recording a 2nd place finish in the group with some good wins over Peter Graham and Sam Logue.
In Group A it was qualifier Agurjanovs who was again burning up the field, winning 6 from 7, dropping one match to Senior Schools International Champion Ashley Robinson. This was a vital win for Robinson, as it meant that he pipped tournament favourite Paul McCreery for 2nd place in the Group.
Agurjanovs went on to eliminate Maguire in the semi-final, while Murphy eliminated Robinson. This set up an epic final, with Agurjanovs eventually emerging triumphant following a see-saw five set battle.
Finals Women
The Women’s Final Classification was played as a straight Round Robin with no knock-out matches. 8 of the top players in the country all had to face each other, with everyone delighted to see Amanda Mogey and Claire Nelson back in the fray following injury lay-offs. Reigning champion Rita Kacsandi was a marginal favourite to reclaim her title, however Mogey and Nelson delivered defeats, as did Qualifier Edel O’Reilly to end her title hopes. O’Reilly was not finished however, recording a big win over Senior International Claire Nelson. She eventually claimed a superb 3rd place, with her only defeats coming from Givan and Mogey. Givan produced some big wins and eventually had a much-anticipated match with Amanda Mogey. This was a thrilling encounter, which Mogey claimed 3-2 and thus the Senior Classification Title, with Givan settling for 2nd place on this occasion.
Many thanks to all the players who took part and the volunteers who gave up their time to assist in this event.