International Youth Cup, Belgium Report by J.O'Donoghue
The teams did fairly well in Hasselt.
Junior boys got to Quarter finals but lost to a German team.Under 12 girls were good also losing out on a quarter finals place on countback but Jenny O'Donnell won 8 out of 8 in the team event

The Cadet boys were up against it in a tough age group and the Cadet girls also haad a strong section with a high standard in both sections. Players from both teams won matches but the teams did not fair out so well.

The Under 12 boys team of Mark O'Flynn, Gavin Maguire and Daniel Keenan did very well in the Under 12s competition winning two matches drawing two and losing only three.All this despite Mark picking up an injury on the Friday and being below his best on Saturday AND whacking his hand off the table on Sunday when he was in a winning position to be in the Consolation Quarter finals.He beat the guy who was in the that final on the Monday in a team match so i guess he would have had a chance to win it. Daniel Keenan was in the Semi final of the Consolation as it was. He and Gavin played well over the week.

It was a good event with a good week's training and the standard of the table tennis was very good in most of the age groups

Schools International, Largs, Scotland 27th June
U-14 Boys: Keith Knox, Mark O'Flynn, Patrick Guy, Ian Jones
NPC John O'Donoghue

U-14 Girls: Amy Tobin, Fiona Mernagh, Andrea Shorten, Aileen O'Donnell
NPC Finn Essex

Under 16 Boys Peter Graham Ross Cullen Killian Healy
NPC Richard Butler

Under 16 Girls Emma Jane Helen, Grainne McKenna
NPC Owen Kelly

Under 18 Boys John Murphy, Na Ning
NPC Alan Monks

Under 18 Girls Sabrina Conway, Linda O'Sullivan, Rachel O'Connor, Amanda Mogey
NPC Eamonn Nealon
Bernadette Nealon Chaperone

European Youth Champ, Novi Sad 10th -18th July
Junior Boys: Conor Nolan, John Murphy, Peter Graham NPC: Richard Butler
Junior Girls: Amanda Mogey, Sabrina Conway, Elizabeth Dennett, NPC: Jing Yi Gao

European Youth Olympic Festival- 26th July- 1st August
Boys: Shane Dolan, Keith Knox
Girls: Amy Tobin, Fiona Mernagh
NPC: John O'Donoghue

Training Camp for European Youth Teams will take place in the IWA, Clontarf on the 6th and 7th July.

A National Training Camp will take place in the IWA, Clontarf on the 8th and 9th July for Junior/Cadet. Selections are not available yet.

A National Training Camp for Seniors will take place in Limerick University on the 16th-17th August 2003, with accommodation in the village.

Colum Slevin, National Coach will conduct all the above camps.

Webmaster: As a note I am sorry for the delay in posting some of the information I received in the last couple of weeks but we were busy increasing the participation level of our family, this was successfully implemented and we now have a baby girl named Jasmine. Mother and baby doing well. father is wrecked having to deal with the rest of the brood. Please be gentle with me! Owen.

Report posted by Patrick Guy in the guestbook 9th June
"hi ireland we are in hasselt in belgium the u17 team got to the quarters and played well in the singles."
Webmaster: Thanks Patrick. If anyone would like to add any information to this I would be very grateful

Sam Todd Memorial Table Tennis Tournament.
Date: Friday 20th June 2003
Venue: Shankill Leisure Centre
Time: 6.30-9.30pm
Entry Fee - Under 14's - £2.00, Over 15's - £3.00
Guaranteed 4 games minimum
Trophies on night

For further details Please contact Billy Boyd
Tel 02890311455 or E,mail www.billy@shankillpartnership.com or just turn up on the night, everyone very welcome!

Gao in Last 64 Report by R.Butler
Irish Senior #1 Jing Yi Gao is through to the last 64 of the World Individual Championships in Paris.

This is the best performance by a member of the Irish team in many years.

After coming out of her qualification group in first place, Gao encountered Italian Nicoletta Stefanova, # 2 on the Italian team that only a few weeks ago won the European Team Championships and then semi-finalist in the Singles event, and ranked # 66 in the World.

Gao, who before this tournament was ranked 321 in the World, lead 2-1 and trailed 2-3, before taking the match 4-3 (-5,5,9,-3,-9,8,7).

Gao now meets Japanese # 2 and World-ranked # 30 An Konishi, with the winner expected to meet World # 5 and tournament 4th seed Tamara Boros of Croatia.

Interestingly, Stefanova beat Boros in the team event at the European Championships.

Pro Tour Record of: GAO Jing Yi
Competition	Year	Event	Rnd	Player(s) 1		Player(s) 2		Result		Winner
World Championships	2003	WS	128	STEFANOVA Nicoletta ITA		GAO Jing Yi IRL		3	4	GAO Jing Yi
World Championships	2003	WS	64	GAO Jing Yi IRL		KONISHI An JPN		0	4	KONISHI An
World Championships	2003	WSP	2	GAO Jing Yi IRL		ROBERTS Doreena SEY		4	0	GAO Jing Yi
World Championships	2003	WSP	3	BURGAR Spela SLO		GAO Jing Yi IRL		2	4	GAO Jing Yi

Pro Tour Record of: LYNCH Damien
Competition	Year	Event	Rnd	Player(s) 1		Player(s) 2		Result		Winner
World Championships	2003	MSP	2	LYNCH Damien IRL		FRANCE Dennis GUY		4	0	LYNCH Damien
World Championships	2003	MSP	3	SORENSEN Mads DEN		LYNCH Damien IRL		4	0	SORENSEN Mads

Pro Tour Record of: SLEVIN Colum
Competition	Year	Event	Rnd	Player(s) 1		Player(s) 2		Result		Winner
World Championships	2003	MSP	1	SLEVIN Colum IRL		PANIAGUA Luis MEX		4	0	SLEVIN Colum
World Championships	2003	MSP	3	SLEVIN Colum IRL		TURGAMBAEV Ruslan KAZ		3	4	TURGAMBAEV Ruslan

Other News
Timo Boll World No.1 was beaten in the last 64 by 18 year old QIU Yuke of China.
WALDNER Jan-Ove beaten 4-3 by PAPAGEORGIOU Konstantinos of Greece.

The Cheltenham Open Butterfly Grand Prix, being held on 18 tables at Cheltenham Recreation Centre on 10th/11th May.

British League Champions London Progress star Jason Sugrue (Middlesex), is the fifth seed in the event, a former England junior international with a heavy forehand who now plays for Ireland seniors, he had a superb win over Tang Jiang Feng(no.2 Seed) at the Midlands GP, before losing to Wang Ran (no.3 seed), a brilliant chop defender with a strong topspin forehand.

The titleholder and Welsh no.1, Ryan Jenkins, 24, who has already powered ‘looped’ his way to four Butterfly Grand Prix men’s singles titles this season, is the top seed for the men’s singles.

PARIS STICKS TO SCHEDULE
Lausanne, Switzerland, 25 April 2003. The Liebherr World Individual Table Tennis Championships in Paris,19-25 May, does not seem to be affected by the problems created World wide by SARS.

After meetings with the French Ministry of Health, the President of the French Table Tennis Association Mr. Gerard VELTEN says that, as the situation is now, al delegations will be allowed to enter France and that the Championships will be held as planned and scheduled.

“Special measures might be taken concerning the delegations from the SARS affected countries, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Canada, but there are no decisions taken to stop them from coming”, says Gerard VELTEN promising that doctors will be available 24 hours a day during the entire championships.

The organisers will also constantly stay in close contact with the delegations from the SARS affected areas.

The ITTF President Mr. Adham SHARARA is in line with the French organisers:

"The championships in Paris will be held as planned and as scheduled. Of course we will respect any decisions and conditions from the French Government, however, at this moment in time we do not have the intention to make any changes to the Championships".

Irish Junior Ranking, Cork. by Owen Kelly
Full Results Here
The last junior ranking of the season saw a very poor entry with player numbers down by 39 on the season's average probably caused by having the event on after the Interpros. Included were the entries for the U10 Ranking that once again proved a very enjoyable event. A number of leading players were missing and this gave an opportunity to others to show their ability on the table.

Local junior Rachel O'Connor TIBHAR put in a commanding performance in her last junior ranking reaching the final only to be beaten by Elizabeth Dennett who has recently joined the Irish ranks from England. In my reckoning this moves Rachel into second spot in the final Irish Ranking. Beech Hill Team mate Anna D'Arcy also in her last junior ranking had her best final placing when she reached third defeating "Raven" Grainne McKenna in the 3rd/4th play-off to move into No.4 in the overall season's ranking.

Keith Knox from the Clogher TTC in Ulster took his first U14 Irish Ranking title when he defeated Dublin based ALSSA player Shane Nolan in the final with Terenure's Jonathan Ray taking third. Again by my reckoning and yet to be officially confirmed this put Shane into the top spot for the season with Keith Knox and Jonathan Ray taking 2nd and 3rd.

Cork has been a happy hunting ground for Ulster based players and Glenburn's Claire Nelson proved it once again adding this Irish Junior Ranking title to her Munster Open Title earlier in the year. Claire beat Moyne TTC's Jenny O'Donnell in the final but this still leaves Jenny with a 20-point advantage over Julie Ann Forbes of Terenure TTC in the final shake down. Julie finished third after beating club team mate Susan Nealon in the play off.

The U12 boys has proved to be a nail biting contest but with Eastpoint's Mark O'Flynn taking three titles so far this season he couldn't be caught by any of the other players prior to this last tournament. Daniel Keenan (ALSAA) and Gavin Maguire (Eastpoint) provided the final finale. With Daniel taking his first title of the season and gaining enough points to join Gavin in joint 2nd over-all.

	U17 Girls			U14 Boys
1	Elizabeth Dennett	England	1	Keith Knox	Clogher, Ulster
2	Rachel O'Connor	Beech Hill, Cork	2	Shane Dolan	ALSAA. Dublin
3	Anna D'Arcy	Beech Hill, Cork	3	Jonathan Ray	Terenure, Dublin
	U12 Girls			U12 Boys
1	Claire Nelson	Glenburn, Ulster	1	Daniel Keenan	ALSAA. Dublin
2	Jenny O'Donnell	Moyne, Ballina	2	Gavin Maguire	Eastpoint, Dublin
3	Julie-Anne Forbes	Terenure, Dublin	3	Mark O'Flynn	Eastpoint, Dublin

Leinster retain Stiga Junior Inter-Provincial Table Tennis Shield - 12 April 2003by Alan Strong

3 Gold medals were sufficient for Leinster, led by John G Byrne, to hold onto the coveted Shield, with Ulster claiming 2 Team Golds and Munster joining the winning action by topping the Junior Girls table.

Despite the unfortunate absence of Connaught, the Championships, at the spacious Valley Leisure Centre in Newtownabbey, proved to be highly competitive and enjoyed by all.

Nothing could stop Leading Irish Seniors Conor Nolan and John Murphy, backed by Brian Farrell and Andrew Boland, as Leinster took the Junior Boys title, but there were pleasant gasps of surprise as Lousie Longs' Munster female quartet of Rachel O'Connor, Yvonne Hurley, Emma Jane Helen and Kelly Duggan took the Jun Girls honours.

Ulster took its first Gold in the Cadet boys section, with Jing Yi Gao NPC) using Keith Knox, Ian Jones, Andrew Loane and Patrick Guy to good effect.

Amy Tobin recovered from illness to give a valuable lead to the Leinster Cadet girls team, taking 1st place ahead of Ulster, with able support from Fiona Mernagh and Laura Healey, with experienced guidance from Tara Fusco (NPC)

Leinster's 3rd Gold came from its Under 12 Boys team of Mark O'Flynn, Daniel Keenan, Mark Savage and G Brady, bur Ulster's Under 12 Girls squad was the most convincing winning performance of the day.

New UK Primary Schools champion, Claire Nelson, was inntop form, with brilliant support from her Glenburn clubmate, Danielle Douglas, as well as Judith Atwell (Clogher) and Robyn McLean (Glenburn) as Ann Ludlow's side took gold without dropping a match.

Stiga Junior Inter-Provincial Championships results:
Jun Boys: 1. Leinster; 2. Ulster; 3. Munster
Jun Girls: 1. Munster; 2. Ulster; 3. Leinster
Cad Boys: 1. Ulster; 2. Leinster; 3. Munster
Cad Girls: 1. Leinster; 2. Ulster; 3. Munster
Under 12 Boys: 1. Leinster; 2. Ulster; 3. Munster
Under 12 Girls: Ulster; 2. Leinster; 3. Munster

Who would believe It ! - by Eamon Nealon
After receiving my coaching badge in Limerick in 1999/2000, who would believe that in 2003 I would coach a Connaught schools team to its first ever All Ireland schools title and end up as the Non Playing Captain/ Coach of the Irish Primary Schools Girls Team winning Gold medals at the British Primary Schools International table tennis Tournament. What a pleasure to be given the opportunity to coach an outstanding Irish Girls team of Claire Nelson (Ulster), Sarah Kenny (Leinster), Jenny O'Donnell and Susan Nealon (Moyne Table tennis Club and Connaught). At an event of its sort, it would be fitting for coaches to bring along an E.C.G. cardiogram in case of heart failure during those testing times! As a coach I was well aware of the challenge that faced the Irish team- not since 1994 had Ireland lifted the Cup at this level. However I was quietly confident that with the diversity of players on my team, we had all the right strategies to win - Claire Nelson playing with short pimples, Jenny O'Donnell playing with long pimples orthodox, Susan Nealon playing with anti-loop and Sarah Kenny an all round attacker!

Preparation from the start was first class. Team spirit was high as the girls who would have met previously on the Irish tournament circuit gelled well together. Before the event, we began with a 15 minute warm-up/ stretches and had a 30 minute knock-up before each game. During the knock- up, we flittered a few balls- all queries to John Byrne! After session matches, the girls quietly knocked up in a corner of the hall allowing other players to be impressed by them- another sweet tactic of my own that worked. As a coach, I felt that the first match against Guernsey was vital to calm the nerves and develop the confidence needed to rise to the English challenge. I felt that there was an upset on the cards -this was obvious from the anxious expressions on the faces of the Irish parents. They were living the spills and thrills of each point and rally. The occasional 'come on Sarah/ Jenny/ Claire/ Susan' from the other end of the hall told its own story. As both a coach and parent, I recognised only too well the need for valium on this occasion. After a 10-0 thrashing of Guernsey, we as a team had the opportunity to analyse the English in action. Following a very positive team talk, all doubts in our ability to defeat them were cast aside. We were on a roll and the English team were not stopping us- a 7-3 victory to the Irish! We then defeated both Wales and Scotland 10-0 to clinch the Gold in the team event.

Sunday was Singles event day and after analysing the draw, it appeared that all 4 Irish were to clash in the quarter final stages. If this remained the case, I felt that we could take both the Singles 'A' event and 'B' event. This was not satisfactory as I fancied our chances to have all 4 Irish players in the semi-finals. However thanks to the intervention of John O'Donoghue, the draw was changed so that at the quarter final stages each Irish player was pitted against an English counterpart. As I anticipated, all 4 Irish girls reached the quarter-finals. To cap a successful weekend off, it ended up with an all Irish Final between Claire and Jenny. As coach to both girls, I was put in a difficult position. This situation was escalated even more by the fact that Jenny is a member of my home club team in Ballina. I bowed out gracefully and let both girls thrash it out in sporting final with Claire narrowly defeating Jenny 3-1. Susan and Sarah finished in joint fourth position. What a successful weekend winning the Team event and with all four players finishing in the Top4 of the Singles event.

Finally, as a coach involved in an often thankless job, its moments like these that it all worthwhile. I would like to thank all involved especially John O'Donoghue who gave me the opportunity to lead this winning team.
Yours in sport,
Eamon Nealon
N.P.C. / Irish Winning Team

Gold for the Girls at Blackburn Report by John O'Donoghue
It was a nine year wait but it was worth it. The Irish Girls took Gold in fine style at the Primary Schools International in Blackburn. The team of Claire Nelson, Jenny O'Donnell, Sarah Kenny and Susan Nealon beat England 7-3, Scotland 10-0, Wales 10-0 and Guernsey 10-0.As always the match against England was the crunch match.The girls, superbly prepared by Non Playing Captain Eamonn Nealon,rose to the occasion.

From the start the English team were under the cosh and with wins from Claire, Jenny and Sarah the Irish Girls were 3-1 up after the first round of singles.The crunch momnets came when Claire and Sarah dropped their next singles to leave things in the balance but the Connacht duo of Jenny and Susan secured their singles to give a 5-3 lead going into the doubles.That slender lead was enough to shift the balance with Claire and Sarah winning their doubles 3-0 and Jenny and Susan adding another one for a comprehensive 7-3 win.

Claire Nelson from Ulster turned in a superb display of Table Tennis to win the Primary Schools Individuals in Blackburn and cap a memorable weekend for the Irish girls. Right from the start of the day when she had a tricky first round group Claire looked sharp. The quarter final line up was an all Ireland versus England affair with the Number ones and twos from both countries truimphant.

Claire met the English number two Charlotte Calcutt in the semi and duly won 3-0 while Jenny O'Donnell knocked out the number one from England also 3-0. In the final it was tough for the team mates of the whole weekend to meet but the girls played a very hard fought but sporting match with Claire winning 3-1

The boys team finished fourth with narrow defeats to Wales 6-4 and Scotland 8-2 and victories 10-0 over Isle of Man and Guernsey. David Budden reached the quarter finals with a Superb 3-0 victory over the scottish number 2 Greig Matthew.Young Paul McCreery from Ulster won the consolation to give some pride back to the boys team

See website for pictures
Irish Schools Table Tennis Association

European Results 02-04-03
Andrew Dennison bt D.Boltrushkol (BLR) 4-3
Daryl Strong bt E.Baldacchinol (MLT)4-0
Jason sugrue lost K.Papageorgios (GRE) 4-2
Conor Nolan bye
Colum Slevin meets Z.Primorac (CRO) in main event.
Jing Yi meets C.Batorfi (HUN) in main event.
Tara Fusco lost V.Daunoravaciute (LTU) 3-1.

Mens Doubles
Round 1
Dennison/Sugrue lost Galatiltis/Kacerauskas(LTU) 2-3
Nolan/Lynch beat Crawford/Rumgay(SCO) 3-2

Round 2
Nolan/Lynch v. Hakansson/Karlsson(SWE)

Mixed Doubles
Round 1
Sugrue/Gao lost Sirel/Morozova(EST) 2-3
Lynch/Fusco lost Steger/Stumper(GER) 0-3

Ladies Doubles
Round 1
Gao/Fusco beat Loureiro(POR)/Larusdotter(ISL) 3-0

Round 2
Gao/Fusco v. Dvorak/Ramirez(ESP)

European Results:

Mens Team
Ireland 2, Estonia 3 (CS 2, DL & AD lose matches deuce in the 5th)
Ireland 1, Iceland 3 (CS 1)
Ireland finish 36/44. Up five places from last year.

Ladies
Ireland 3, Malta 0
Ireland 3, Bosnia & Herzegovina 1
Ireland finish 37/40

European Championships
Semi Final Belrus bt Sweden
Germany bt Czech Republic

Mens Team Final
Belarus 3, Germany 1

Ladies Team Final
Italy 3, Croatia 1

Damien Lynch/Conor Nolan & Jing Yi Gao/Tara Fusco through their first match in European Championships doubles event.

England win all events at Junior & Cadet 6 Nations Tournament, Cardiff
England players won all events at the 6 Nations Junior & Cadet tournament held at the Welsh National Training Centre, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, over the weekend.

Anyone know who was playing for Ireland? email: owen@ttireland.com

Results:
Boy’s under 18 team: 1st England, 2nd Wales
Boy’s under 15 team: 1st England, 2nd Scotland
Girl’s under 18 team: 1st England, 2nd Wales
Girl’s under 15 team: 1st England, 2nd Wales
Boy’s under 18 singles: Bryn Drinkhall (Eng) bt Adam Bleakley (Eng)
Boy’s under 15 singles: Paul Drinkhall (Eng) bt Darius Knight (Eng)
Girl’s under 18 singles: Abigail Embling (Eng) bt Kate Steward (Eng)
Girl’s under 15 singles: Lauren Springthorpe (Eng) bt Lauren Spink (Eng)

European Results:
Men Div 2 Group 1:
Ire 3 Lithuania 0 ( C Slevin J Sugrue, D Lynch);
Ire 3 Albania 0 ( JS, A Dennison, DL); Ire 1 Latvia 3 (JS, CS (1), DL);
Ire 0 Slovenia 3 (CS, JS, C Nolan)

Women Div 2 Group 1:
Ire 2 Norway 3 (JY Gao (2), M McGreevy, T Bollard);
Ire 0 Spain 3 (JYG, MMcG, TB);
Ire 1 Latvia 3 (JYG (1), MMcG, TB)

All Ireland Schools Finals, Cork 2003.

	U19 Boys		U19 Girls
1	Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig	1	St Angelas, Cork
2	St Marys, Galway	2	St Marys Glasnevin
3	St Tiernans, Dublin	3	Fivemiletown
4	Fivemiletown
	U15 Boys		U15 Girls
1	Moyne College, Ballina	1	Ballymena Academy
2	Thurles CBS	2	St Angelas, Cork
3	St Tiernans, Dublin	3	Loretto Convent Bray
4	Fivemiletown	4	Calasanctius College, Galway
	U13 Girls		U13 Boys
1	St Angelas, Cork	1	Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig
2	Our Ladys Grove, Dublin	2	St Tiernans, Dublin
3	Rockport, Co. Down	3	Fivemiletown
		4	St Marys, Galway

Match Results

U-19 boys	Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig	5	4	St Tiernans, Dublin
	St Marys, Galway	7	2	Fivemiletown
Final	Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig	9	0	St Marys, Galway
3rd/4th	St Tiernans, Dublin	7	2	Fivemiletown
U-19 Girls	Fivemiletown	2	7	St Marys Glasnevin
	St Angelas, Cork	Bye
Final	St Angelas, Cork	6	3	St Marys Glasnevin
U-15 Girls	Calasanctius College, Galway	0	9	St Angelas, Cork
	Loretto Convent Bray	3	6	Ballymena Academy
Final	Ballymena Academy	5	3	St Angelas, Cork
3rd/4th	Loretto Convent Bray	8	1	Calasanctius College, Galway
U-15 Boys	Thurles CBS	7	2	Fivemiletown
	Moyne College, Ballina	7	2	St Tiernans, Dublin
Final	Moyne College, Ballina	5	4	Thurles CBS
3rd/4th	St Tiernans, Dublin	6	3	Fivemiletown
U-13 Girls	St Angelas, Cork	5	4	Our Ladys Grove, Dublin
	Rockport, Co. Down	Bye
Final	St Angelas, Cork	5	4	Rockport, Co. Down
2nd/3rd	Our Ladys Grove, Dublin	8	1	Rockport, Co. Down
U-13 Boys	Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig	6	3	Fivemiletown
	St Marys, Galway	3	6	St Tiernans, Dublin
Final	Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig	5	4	St Tiernans, Dublin
3rd/4th	Fivemiletown	8	1	St Marys, Galway

Interpros Results:
Senior
Ulster 11 Munster 0
Ulster 11 Connaught 0
Ulster 6 Leinster 5
Leinster 10 Connaught 0
Leinster 7 Munster 3
Munster 6 Connaught 5

Winner: Ulster
R/U Leinster
3rd Munster
4th Connaught

U/21
Leinster 7 Ulster 1
Leinster 6 Munster 4
Munster 9 Ulster 2

Winner Leinster
R/U Munster
3rd Ulster

Veterans
Leinster 5 Connaught 3
Leinster 9 Munster 0
Leinster 5 Ulster 4
Ulster 9 Connaught 0
Ulster 8 Munster 0
Connaught 7 Munster 2

Winner Leinster
R/U Ulster
3rd Connaught
4th Munster

All Ireland Schools entries Cork 26-03-03

Ulster
U19 Boys Fivemiletown High School
U15 Boys Fivemiletown High School
U13 Boys Fivemiletown High School
U19 Girls Fivemiletown High School
U15 Girls Ballymena Academy
U13 Girls Rockport Preparatory School

Connaught
Girls U-13: Calasanctus College, Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Girls U-15: Calasanctus College, Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Girls U-19: none
U13 Boys St. Mary's College, Galway
U15 Boys: Moyne College, Ballina
Boys U-19: St. Mary's College, Galway

Leinster
U19 Boys
U15 Boys St Tiernans
U13 Boys
U19 Girls St Marys Glasnevin
U15 Girls
U13 Girls

Munster
Girls U-13: St Angelas College,
Girls U-15: St Angelas College.
Girls U-19: Sl Angelas College
U13 Boys Colaiste Choilm
U15 Boys: Thurles CBS
Boys U-19: Colaiste Choilm

St Tiernans C.S. make history
St Tiernans C. S. have made Leinster Schools history by being the first school to represent Leinster in all three Boys age groups and must stake their claim to a place at the world schools with 18 players travelling to Cork for the Championships.

This was achieved with a very exciting and narrow 10-9 victory over St Johns Ballyfermot in the Under 15 play off, a more commanding 15-3 win over Sacred Heart in the Under 13 play off and a resounding 14-4 win over St Kevins CBS in the Under 19 play off. All this after winning the Leinster Schools Cup and Leinster Schools League in Under 13 and Under 15 level with the Under 19s just missing out on the double when they lost the Under 19 Cup to St Kevins.

All Ireland Schools All is prepared for the All Ireland Schools to be held on Wednesday 26th March at the Parochial Hall in Cork. Cork will be well represented with teams from St.Angela's College and Colaiste Choilm and for the first time Tipperary will represent Munster with Thurles CBS U15 Boys winning a very close play-off that included Ballincollig GS and Maria Immaculata CC, Dunmanway. This means that Cork will definately be unable to hold on to the 6 All Ireland Titles from last year and a new boys team will reresent Ireland at the ISF World Championships in 2004. With all to play for it is likely to prove a very competitive event for all concerned.

INTERPROS - Ulster hit the heights
The Ulster Senior Inter-pro team of Jonathan Cowan, Andrew Dennison, Daryl Strong, Jing Yi Gao and Michelle McCreevy, walked away with the Senior Title after beating Leinster (Damien Lynch, John Bowe, Conor Nolan, Tara Fusco and Sabrina Conway) in one of the best final matches in memory.

Conor Nolan had a fantastic win over Jonathan Cowan but with Andrew Dennison beating John Bowe it was all square going into the final match of doubles. The Ulster pair of Cowan and Dennison proved to strong for the Leinster pair and Ulster took their first Senior Interpros title since 1997.

Leinster were rewarded for their efforts by winning the U21s and the Veterans events. Full results will be posted when made available.

Controversial Championships. Editorial The weekend was marred however by some heated discussions over the championship regulations and there have been calls again from a number of Munster, Connacht and Ulster members for clarification on all the current rules and regulations. It appears that there are a number of issues concerning eligibility of players, which will have to be addressed before the next Interprovincial Championships in Munster 2004. This is not to tie the ITTA in "knots" as one officer put it but to untangle the mess at present. The confusion if any is being caused by constant changes to existing "custom and practise." Without a published rule-book it there will likely be confusion when amendments and new regulations are passed without consensus from all those participating. Questions to be answered include:
Are Juniors allowed to play Senior?
Will they then be ineligible for the Junior Interpros?
Are Juniors allowed to play U21?
Will they then be ineligible for the Junior Interpros?
Are U21s allowed to play Senior but then ineligible for future U21s?
If you play Veteran are you ineligible for Senior?
What is correct procedure for changing the regulations?

From a personal point of view, this year we appear to have allowed juniors to play U21 to enable more U21 teams. If we are trying to facilitate the U21s then why try to prevent them from playing U21 if they have played Senior? We all know that an U21 could be very active when U18 and could then be in good enough form to play senior, but then with the pressure of college etc. they may not play for a while and may want to return to U21. With the regs. as they may or may not be this would not be possible, that doesn't seem to facilitate our youth players. It just means that we can compensate for the fact that there are so few U21s being facilitated in table tennis by drafting in juniors to replace them.

A second issue that is very concerning is the practice of stopping players from playing the matches they are entitled to. If teams and players are prepared to pay and travel to this competition then they should be allowed to play their allotted matches. This is a very disturbing situation, which is upsetting for the players.

News Updates Webmaster
Over the weekend I was asked by a number of people about updating the website. I just want to make it clear, I post any news I can get and I will take any source I can get, but if I don't get anything then nor will you! This is a voluntary independent website run by myself and funded by advertising, in order to try and promote the sport and let everyone know what's going on. If you have any news on the events below or any other table tennis news then please let me know. I would like to thank all those who complemented me on the website and I hope it will continue to be the most comprehensive source of information on table tennis in Ireland. We have moved up to over 600 hits a week this season. If you would like to express an opinion why not contribute to the Munster Forum - click here
Intervarsities Limerick February: Won by UCC. a report to come.
Womens British League 25/26 January
Cotswold 4 Star Select, 25/26 January
West of Scotland Open, 25/26 January
Junior British League, 15/16 February

The following are the teams for the primary schools
The event takes place in Blackburn England on April 5/6 2003
Boys
David Budden
Gavin Maguire
Paul McCreery
Neal O'Flynn
NPC John O'Donoghue

Girls
Claire Nelson
Judith Atwell
Susan Nealon
Jenny O'Donnell
NPC Eamonn Nealon
Chaperone: Bernadette Nealon

STIGA Irish National Championships
2 New Irish Champions collected the coveted Eddie Limberg Memorial Trophies at the Valley Leisure Centre in Newtownabbey. Jason Sugure, who lives in Kingsbury, London, proved why he is 'Ireland's leading male player' by taking the Men's Singles without dropping a set, but his final against the most impressive Conor Nolan (Dublin) was a topsy turvy affair with Conor holding game-winning leads in the first two ends. Conor had earned his spurs by ousting Champion Andrew Dennison (Newtownabbey) in the Quarters, in an enthralling 4 set battle.

Jing Yi Gao (Lisburn) won her first Irish title, becoming eligible to enter the Nationals in 2002, having lived in Ulster since 1995. She dropped a set to Elizabeth Dennett in the Women's semis, and, just like Jason, did not have an easy ride in the final, defeating Michelle McGreevy. Michelle had earned her final spot with a victory in the Last 4 over 2002 Champion Tara Fusco (Dublin)

The STIGA Irish Championships had a quality field with a modest entry, and threw up a series of double winners - Jing Yi went on to share Women's Doubles with Michelle McGreevy, Michelle took a pair of titles in partnering John Bowe (Dublin) to the Mixed Doubles title, Kareim Sabir (Galway) came out on top in both Veteran's and Class 2 singles. Andrew Dennison and Willy Cherry (Belfast) maintained their domination of Irish Men's Doubles events with another National title.

STIGA Irish National Championships Results:
MS; S/F - J Sugrue bt J Murphy 3,7,9; C Nolan bt J Bowe 9, 6, -9, 9
Final - Sugrue bt Nolan 10. 10. 8
WS: S/F - JY Gao bt E Dennett 6, -5, 0, 3; M McGreevy bt T Fusco 8, -12, 3, 10
Final - Gao bt McGreevy 13, 8, 4
Class 2: Final - K Sabir bt J Lappin 12, 8, 8
VS: Final - K Sabir bt D Pemberton 10, 11, 8
U21 Singles: Final - J Murphy by C Nolan -3, 7, 7, 9
MD: Final - A Dennison/W Cherry bt C Nolan/J Murphy -7, 6, 7, 8
WD: Final - JY Gao/M McGreevy bt T Devaney/E Dennett 9, 8, 5
XD: Final - J Bowe/M McGrrevy bt J Sugrue/E Dennett W/O

Intercounties Championships, IWA 01-03-03
This was my first experience at the Intercounties and apart from the long distance I had to travel I thought it was a brilliant event. 18 matches between 10.30 and 19.00hrs. My opponent in the last match (B.Gallagher, Wicklow) remarked this was his first time playing endurance table tennis, I didn't have the energy to talk myself and could only just manage to pick up the ball!
I had a great day and would highly reccommend Counties to sign up for this event, thanks to all those who made it such a good day, administrators and players. (Owen)

	Division 1
1	Dublin A	J.Murphy	T.Fusco
2	Wexford	D.Hatchell	P.Sunderland
3	Mayo	K.Devaney	P.Egan
4	Antrim	P.Wallace	G.Crawford	G.Smyth
5	Galway A	R.Gavin	J.Warnes
6	Cork A	O.Kelly	P.Shaw
7	Wicklow A	G.Courtney	S.Murphy	B.Gallagher
	Division 2
1	Down	J.Boyd	J.Cash	T.Donnelly
2	Tyrone	M.Funston	G.Knox
3	Fermanagh	K.Knox	S.Armstrong
4	Cork B	D.Buckley	M.Spitere
5	Wicklow B	T.Mitchell	S.Wormell
6	Galway B	O.Folan	S.Folan
	Division 3
1	Dublin B	B.Morrison	E.Fusco
2	Louth	T.Bourke	S.Brennan	G.O'Brien
3	Sligo A	A.Taylor	C.Hodgins
4	Cork C	P.Lynch	K.Lyndorff
5	Tipperary	D.Mullane	S.Minogue	P.Delany
6	Sligo B	W.Bourke	A.Flynn
	Individual
	Division 1	K.Delvaney	Mayo
	Division 2	J.Boyd	Down
	Division 3	P.Lynch	Cork C

European Draw
Mens Division 2: Slovinia, Lithuania, Latvia, Albania, Ireland

Womens Division 2: Spain, Norway, Latvia, Ireland

Fermanagh Open Results
Senior Mens

S/F T.Caffrey bt W.Cherry 9/11,11/9,13/11, 11/8.
J.Bowe walk over K.Burke
Final J.Bowe bt T.Caffrey 11/9,11/6,11/6.

Class II
S/F P.Clarke bt R.Gavin 11/13,11/5,11/3,11/4.
K.Sabir bt J.Lappin 11/6,11/6,9/11,11/4.
Final K.Sabir bt P.Clarke 11/9,11/8,11/5.

Veteran Men
S/F W.Cherry bt K.Sabir 9/11,11/6,13/11,11/4.
T.Caffrey bt K.Burke 12/10,11/9,11/5.
Final W.Cherry bt T.Caffrey 12/10,11/6,7/11,11/9.

Mens Doubles
S/F Dennison/Cherry bt Bowe/Clarke 10/12,11/3,8/11,11/3,11/5.
Burke/Sabir bt Strong/Wallace 11/9,11/9,11/6.
Final Dennison/Cherry bt Burke/Sabir 11/5,11/7,11/9.

Fiording new links with Nowegian Table Tennis
There were a number of players from Norway and you may have read of John Bowe's travels playing for Eiker BTK

Thanks to Peter Nilsson (DEN) our ex-Irish National Coach who is now a Norwegian coach, here are a couple of interesting things you might not know about Norwegian table tennis.

- Table Tennis are a small sport - there are more people who are playing table tennis in Ireland than there are in Norway.
- The federation have 3 people who are working fulltime at the office.
- 2 fulltime trainers who are employed by the federation and clubs.
- We have a table tennis school
- The players who are in the national teams are training between 7-12 times per week.
- We are a small table tennis country with small possibilities but we are trying absoluty our best to get internationell results.
- We are playing many tournaments in Sweden
- Our best players are playing division in Sweden or Germany.

COMPETITION	WINNER	RUNNER UP	THIRD PLACE
U12 Boys	Mathias Borgensen (NOR)	Mark O'Flynn (L)	David Budden (U)
U12 Boys Plate	Paul Robinson (U)	Jonny Mc Kee (U)
U12 Girls	Fiona Dennett (ENG)	Marte Nilsen (NOR)	Jenny O'Donnell (C)
U12 Girls Plate	Clodagh Mc Cullagh (L)	Orla O'Reilly (M)
U14 Boys	Jonas Nilseng (NOR)	Espen Ronneberg (NOR)	Shane Dolan (L)
U14 Boys Plate	Neil O'Flynn (L)	Ian McKeever (L)
U14 Girls	Sabina Kazimagomedova (L)	Claire Nelson (U)	Anna Berner (NOR)
U14 Girls Plate	Sarah Dorney (Munster)	Orna Smith (U)
U17 Boys	Na Ning (L)	Conor Nolan (L)	Conor Fahy (L)
U17 Boys Plate	Andrew Holohan (L)	David McDonnell (C)
U17 Girls	Sabina Kazimagomedova(L)	Amanda Mogey (U)	Elizabeth Dennett (ENG)
U17 Girls Plate	Rebecca Mc Carthy (M)	Oonagh McCullagh (L)
U19s	Elizabeth Dennett (ENG)	Stephen Keenan (L)	Sjud Petterson (NOR)
U19 Plate	Orla Fahy (L)	Sinead Kelly (L)

LEINSTER JUNIOR OPEN
There are 6 Norwegian players being hosted for the Leinster Open by Eastpoint. There are 4 Boys (1 under 12, 2 cadets and 1 junior) and 2 Girls (1 Under 12 and 1 Cadet) There is an Eastpoint/Alsaa V Norway - friendly match on Friday night and they are playing in the tournament on Saturday and Sunday

LEINSTER JUNIOR OPEN
Saturday Girls under 12 time changed to 11.30.

Sunday Girls under 14 time changed to 10.00 Under 19 time changed to 10.30

2003 LIEBHERR World Championships
Date	Event	Round	Timings CET
21-May	Men Single	Round 2	17:30-19:00
22-May	Women Single	Round 3	14:30-15:15
22-May	Men Single	Round 3	17:30-18:15
22-May	Men Single	Round 3	18:15-19:00
23-May	Men Single	Round 4	17:30-19:00
23-May	Men Single	Round 4	00:15-01:15
24-May	Men Single	1/4 F	18:45-19:45
24-May	Women Single	Final	19:45-20:30
25-May	Men Single	Final	17:30-18:30

Leinster Open 2003 - Results

Mens Singles Semi Finals
Na Ning beat Tommy Caffrey 3/0
Conor Nolan beat Willie Cherry 3/1

Mens Singles Final
Na Ning beat Conor Nolan 3/1

Ladies Singles Semi Finals
Tara Fusco beat Sabrina Conway 3/0
T. Devaney beat Rhonda Fox 3/0

Ladies Singles Final
Tara Fusco beat T. Devaney 3/0

Mens DoublesSemi Finals
A. Dennison/W. Cherry beat Y. Barire/A. Giot 3/0
Na Ning/J. Bowe beat C. Nolan/ J. Murphy 3/1

Mens Doubles Final
A. Dennison/ W. Cherry beat Na Ning/ J. Bowe 3/0

Ladies Doubles Final
T. Devaney/ S. Conway beat T. Fusco/ O/ Folan 3/2

Mixed Doubles Final
A. Dennison/ T. Fusco beat C. Nolan/ T. Devaney 3/1

Class 2 Final
Arnod Giot beat Karim Sabir 3/0

Under 21 Final
Na Ning beat John Murphy 3/1

Veteran Singles Semi Finals
D. Pemberton beat K. Burke 3/2
K. Sabir beat T. Caffrey 3/2

Veteran Singles Final
D. Pemberton beat K. Sabir 3/0

Comments
Mens Singles: (75 entries) No 1 seed Jason Sugrue snowbound in Stansted Airport, did not play. Damien Lynch No 2 seed beaten in first round group by Romanian Marius Berende(TerenureCYM). John Bowe(No 5seed) lost to Willie Cherry in second round. Conor Nolan(No 6 seed) beat Andrew Dennison(No 3 seed) in the 1/4 finals, and Tommy Caffrey beat Karim Sabir in 1/4 finals.

Table Tennis on TV
The Sports Monthly Programme on RTE 2 on Saturday 1st February will show a small amount of footage from the 2003 Munster Open, filmed by our very own Rory O'Connor from Beech Hill. Be sure to set your video for this almost unique opportunity, south of the border!

Selections
Womens British League 25/26 January
Teresa Devaney, Ros Carpenter, Orla Folan Tara Fusco, Jing Yi Gao, Michelle McGreevy
NPC Arthur Brett

Cotswold 4 Star Select, 25/26 January
Laura Healy, Fiona Mernagh, Amy Tobin
Shane Dolan, Daniel Keenan, Keith Knox, Mark O'Flynn
NPC Phyllis Kenny, John O'Donoghue

West of Scotland Open, 25/26 January
Andrew Dennison, Damien Lynch, Conor Nolan

Junior British League, 15/16 February
Sabrina Conway, Amanda Mogey, Rachel O'Connor
Conor Fahy, Peter Graham, John Murphy, Conor Nolan
NPC Richard Butler, Louise Long

MUNSTER TABLE TENNIS OPEN 200317th-19th JAN
Sponsored by Permanent TSB & Fitzgerlad & Associates.
Results

NA NING CROWNED "KING OF PING" AT MUNSTER OPEN photos to follow
Na Ning originally from China and now living in Dublin had the tournament of his life. This talented junior, still under 17yrs has had a number of notable successes this season but no body expected him to take four of the Munster Open titles, the largest tournament in Ireland. In the Mens Open he revenged his defeat at the hands of Tommy Caffrey at the Connacht Open earlier in the season and moved into the semi final where he met local favourite Brian Fitzgerald who had already disposed of the No.2 seed John Bowe in the quarter finals, which produced a thrilling semi with both players striking the ball from every part of the court in a battle to dominate the table. Na Ning moved on to meet No.1 seed Damien Lynch in the final which was watched by a number of guests including the Mayor of Cork Cllr Kelleher and 5 of the 6 Munster Special Olympic Table Tennis squad who have been selected to represent Ireland at the World Games in the summer. They were treated to a superb example of fast attacking table tennis that was well supported by the impartial crowd.

Na Ning went on to take the U21 title from Conor Nolan who was also Na Ning's victim in the junior final on Sunday.

Elizabeth Dennett from England made it a good day for the foreign players taking the junior title from Amanda Mogey and completed the double with a victory over current Irish No.1 Tara Fusco (TIBHAR) in the senior ladies. A suprise victory for local Cork girls Anna D'Arcy over the current Irish No.1 Sabrina Conway saw her take a well deserved 4th place finish behind team mate Rachel O'Connor (TIBHAR).

Sabina Kazimagomedova from Russia who is currently based at the Terenure Club caused a stir in her first Irish National tournamet by reaching the final of the U14 girls but was beaten by Amy Tobin (ALSAA) in the final. David Hayes from England went one further in the U14 boys by defeating Michael McDonnell who is part of a new crop of Connacht based players who are starting to appear more regularly at national level.

The U21 event was dominated by Munster players with Linda O'Sullivan beating Louise Long in the final and Anna D'Arcy and Yvonne Hurley finishing in third. All these players are from the new Beech Hill Table Tennis Club in Cork. Linda O'Sullivan and Louise Long combined reached the ladies doubles final but were unable defeat fellow Cork player Linda Mountjoy and Irish No.1 Tara Fusco in the final of the ladies doubles. The mens final saw Na Ning take his fourth Munster Title partnering John Bowe by beating Damien Lynch and Marcus McDonnell in the final.

Milos Soukup from the Czech Republic took the Class 2 title against Mark White from Cork.

The Mixed Doubles final saw Munster No.1's Brian Fitzgerald (Friends First) and Linda Mountjoy (UCC) take on Tara Fusco and rising talent Peter Graham from Ulster. Fitzgerald and Mountjoy partners off and on the table combined well together to please the local support to take the Munster Mixed Doubles title.

	U17BOYS				U17GIRLS
1	Na Ning	CHN		1	Elizabeth Dennet	ENG
2	Conor Nolan	L		2	Amanda Mogey	U
3	David Hayes	ENG		3	Rachel O'Connor	M
4	Peter Graham	U		4	Anna D'Arcy	M
5=	Conor Fahy	L		5=	Grainne McKenna	L
5=	John Murphy	L		5=	Fiona Boyle	C
7	Gervais Knox	U		7	Sabrina Conway	L
8	Ross Cullen	L		8	Amy Tobin	L
	U14 Boys				U14 Girls
1	David Hayes	ENG		1	Amy Tobin	L
2	Michael McDonnell	C		2	Sabina Kazimagomedova	RUS
3	Keith Knox	U		3	Claire Nelson	U
4	Jonathan Rea	L		4	Jenny O'Donnell	C
5	Andrew Loane	U		5	Fiona Mernagh	L
6	Mark O'Flynn	L		6	Laura Healy	L
7	Shane Dolan	L		7	Ciara O'Donnell	C
8	Gavin Maguire	L		8	Andrea Shorten	M
	U12 Boys				U12 Girls
1	Mark O'Flynn	L		1	Claire Nelson	L
2	Daniel Keenan	L		2	Julieanne Forbes	L
3	Gavin Maguire	L		3	Sarah Kenny	L
4	David Budden	U		4	Ciara Nolan	L
5	Ross Griffin	M		5	Susan Nelson	C
6	Neil O'Flynn	L		6	Jenny O'Donnell	C
7	Ian Shellard	M		7	Avril Healy	L
8	Fiarcra Landers	M		8	Rebecca Kenny	L
	U21 Men				U21 Ladies
1	Na Ning	CHN		1	Linda O'Sullivan	M
2	Conor Nolan	L		2	Louise Long	M
3=	David McNeill	L		3=	Anna D'Arcy	M
3=	Andrew Blanch	L		3=	Yvonne Hurley	M
5=	Padraig Egan	C		5=	Orla Folan	C
5=	Darroch Keegan	C		5=	Sandra Morris	M
5=	David O'Rourke	M		7
5=	Joshua Cooper	L		8
9=	Aidan Glennon	L
9=	Billy Cooke	L
9=	Martin Tuffy	C
9=	Patrick Green	L
	Class II
1	Milos Soukup	CHZ
2	Mark White	M
3=	David O'Rourke	M
3=	Killian Healy	M
5=	Darroch Keegan	C
5=	Eoin Hegarty	M
5=	Linda O'Sullivan	M
5=	Padraig Egan	C
	Snr Men				Snr Women
1	Na Ning	CHN		1	Elizabeth Dennett	ENG
2	Damien Lynch	L		2	Tara Fusco	L
3=	John Murphy	L		3	Sabrina Conway	L
3=	Brian Fitzgerald	M		4	Linda O'Sullivan	M
5=	Conor Nolan	L		5=	Linda Mountjoy	M
5=	John Bowe	L		5=	Orla Folan	C
5=	Marcus McDonnell	L		5=	Rhonda Fox	L
5=	Tommy Caffrey	L		5=	Sandra Morris	M
	Mens Doubles				Ladies Doubles
1	J.Bowe/N.Ning			1	L.Mountjoy/T.Fusco
2	D.Lynch/M.McDonnell			2	L.Long/L.O'Sullivan
	Mixed Doubles
1	B.Fitzgerlad/L.Mountjoy
2	P.Graham/T.Fusco

Ulster Branch Press Release:NEWTOWNABBEY GP Ryan Jenkins of Wales proved why he is Six Nations Champion in retaining the Newtownabbey Open title in dropping only 2 sets on his way to the Men's title. After a 4 set victory over Niall Cameron (Sco) in the Last 16, he took out surprise package, Peter Graham (Belfast) in the quarters, won an enthralling semi, 3-1, over former French Junior Champ Thierry Tran (Meaux Club) and defeated top Scot, Gavin Rumgay in the fast flowing final.

Na Liu (19), Belfast-based Chinese player, had double success in both Women' Singles and Under 21 events, while Dubliner, Na Ning, was also a double victor in the Valley Leisure Centre, winning brilliantly at both Junior and Men's Band 1 levels.

A prize fund of over £2000 was spread across several of the 11 nationalities represented, and the event is clearly now well established on the Butterfly UK Grand Prix calendar. Almost 120 players entered the 2-day event, but there was a notable absence of several regular Irish tournament entrants.

Action returns to the Valley Leisure Centre for the Stiga National Championships on 8 March 2003, and Entry Forms can be obtained from Table Tennis Ulster at 028 or (048) 90 383811

ETTA Press Release: FAVOURITE RYAN JENKINS LIFTS NEWTOWNABBEY GP, ULSTER
Ryan Jenkins, the 24 years old Welsh no.1, was a comfortable winner of the Newtownabbey Open Butterfly Grand Prix, Northern Ireland, on Saturday. After putting out the former 4 times French junior champion and European Youth silver medallist, Thierry Tran, 4-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10, in the semi-finals, Jenkins had a straight games, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, finals success against the new Scottish no.1, Gavin Rumgay, the decisive factor being his ability to absorb Rumgay’s attack away from the table.

The Chinese Na Liu, who is studying in Belfast, easily retained her women’s singles title, with wins over Dublin’s Tara Fusco, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4, in the semi-finals, and then the Herfordshire based Hungarian, Barbara Kiss, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9, in the final. Kiss had come through a hard 5 games match against another Northern Ireland living Chinese, Jing Yi Gao.

There was some success for English players, when James Sprackling (Middlesex), Ray Jordan (Kent) and Clive Carthy (Essex) lifted the men’s band 2 singles, men’s 5 singles, and veteran men’s singles respectively. The winner of the men’s band 6 singles, Rory Scott, is an Irishman currently studying in Brighton, Sussex. Cleveland’s Steven Bailey, ranked only no.96 in England, had opportunities to achieve his best ever win when leading Scottish no.1 Gavin Rumgay 6-4 in the 5th game of their under 21 men’s singles semi-final – only to lose 11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 14-12, 9-11. Rumgay went on to win the event.

Finals results:
Open men’s singles (from semi-finals): Ryan Jenkins (Wales) bt Thierry Tran (France) 4-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10.
Gavin Rumgay (Scotland) bt Christophe Chausse (France) 7-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-2, 11-5.

Final: Ryan Jenkins (Wales) bt Gavin Rumgay (Scotland) 11-8, 11-6 11-7.

Open women’s singles (from semi-finals): Na Liu (Ireland) bt Tara Fusco (Ireland) 11-4, 11-7, 11-4.
Barbara Kiss (Hertfordshire) bt Jing Yi Gao (Ireland) 12-10, 11-8 7-11, 5-11, 11-5.

Final: Na Liu (Ireland) bt Barbara Kiss (Herfordshire) 11-5, 12-10, 11-9.
Men’s band 1 singles: Na Ning (Ireland) bt Christophe Chausse (France) 11-7, 11-8, 11-4.

Men’s band 2 singles: James Sprackling (Middlesex) bt Norman Nabney (Ireland) 3-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4.

Men’s band 3 singles: Kenny Lindsay (Scotland) bt Ashley Nicholls (Shropshire) 7-11, 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6.

Men’s band 4 singles: Phillip Wallace (Ireland) bt Peter Graham (Ireland) 7-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6.

Men’s band 5 singles: Ray Jordan (Kent) bt Philip Doherty (Ireland) 11-9, 11-13, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7.

Men’s band 6 singles: Rory Scott (Ireland) bt Josh Cooper (Ireland) 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7.

Women’s band 1 singles: Jing Yi Gao (Ireland) bt Laura Rumgay (Scotland) 11-4, 11-6, 11-6.

Women’s band 2 singles: Winner – Laura Rumgay (Scotland), runner-up – Sabrina Conway (Ireland).

Women’s band 3 singles: Sabrina Conway (Ireland) bt Rebecca Russell (Scotland) 11-9, 11-7, 13-11.

Under 21 men’s singles: Gavin Ramgay (Scotland) bt Na Ning (Ireland) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6.

Under 21 women’s singles: Na Liu (Ireland) bt Gillian Edwards (Scotland) 11-6, 11-3, 11-4.

Veteran men’s singles: Clive Carthy (Essex) bt Keiran Burke (Ireland) 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8.

Newtownabbey 1st Day
Chinese are just crackers (Source Belfast Telegraph)
NA Ning (Dublin) and Jing Yi Gao (Ulster) were the stars of the show on the opening day at the Newtownabbey Open championships in the Valley Leisure Centre.

This Ulster-based round of the Butterfly UK Grand Prix has attracted almost 70 players from 11 nations and the opening day facilitated six men's and three women's banded events with Ning and Gao grabbing the top prizes in their categories.

Philip Wallace (Queen's) took further credit in winning men's Band Four over top Ulster Junior, Peter Graham, but Norman Nabney (Glenburn) promised much in reaching the men's Band Two final, going down to James Sprackling (Middlesex).

Action continued today in the Valley with the premier men's and women's singles events, with Ryan Jenkins (Wales) and Gavin Rumgay (Scotland) favourites for the men's title while Na Liu (China) is tipped to retain her women's title ahead of Barbara Kiss (Hungary).

Western People Sports Star Award
Congratulations to Jenny O'Donnell from Moyne Table Tennis Club, Ballina, Co. Mayo was awarded the Mayo Sports Star Award.

Full playing details for the Newtownabbey Open Championships have now been released; those requiring clarification can contact Alan Strong at 07803 186364 (Mobile) or by Email to alan@strong372.fresserve.co.uk

IRISH & SCOTS THE MAIN SEEDS @ NEWTOWNABBEY BUTTERFLY GP
Although Welsh no.1 Ryan Jenkins is the top men’s singles seed, Irish and Scottish players take most of the seeded positions at the Newtownabbey Open Butterfly Grand Prix, Northern Ireland, being played on 3rd/4th January, with no English players in strong contention.

The teenager Gavin Rumgay (Scotland) is seeded second after Jenkins in the men’s singles, with London Progress Club star Jason Sugrue (Middlesex), the former England junior international who now plays for Ireland, seeded third. Andrew Dennison (Ireland) is the 4th seed, Daryl Strong (Ireland – Ulster) 5th, Thierry Tran (France) 6th, John Bowe (Ireland) 7th, and Stewart Crawford of Scotland the 8th seed.

The Chinese titleholder, Na Liu, who is studying in Belfast heads the women’s singles seeds, with another Ulster based Chinese, Jing Yi Gao, seeded 3rd. Barbara Kiss, the Hertfordshire based Hungarian who is a student at the (London) South Bank University, is nearest to an ‘English’ representative in the third seeded position, whilst Michelle McGreevy (Ulster), 4th, Tara Fusco (Ireland), 5th, Linda Mountjoy (Ireland), 6th, Andrea Glover (Ireland), 7th, and Gillian Edwards (Scotland), 8th, make up the rest of the seeds.

The banded men and women’s singles are being played on the Friday (3rd January), with open singles (finals scheduled for 6-30pm), under 21 and veteran singles taking place on the Saturday.

Selections for Olympic Training camp
Shane Dolan, Keith Knox , Ian Jones, Jonathan Ray, Fiona Mernagh, Amy Tobin, Laura Healy

Selections for Cotswold Select Open
Under 14 Boys, Shane Dolan, Keith Knox
Under 12 Boys, Mark O'Flynn, Daniel Keenan
Under 14 Girls, Fiona Mernagh, Amy Tobin, Laura Healy
Under 12 Girls, Danielle Douglas Liverpool Select report by JOD
The trip to Liverpool was a good one with all players acquitting themselves well on the table. Andrea Shorten got to the Semi-Final of the Cadet Singles where she lost to Fiona Dennett 3-0 Amy Tobin was unlucky in her quarter final losing out 3-2 in a close fought encounter.

In the boys both Mark O'Flynn and David Budden got to the Last 16 in a competitive under 12 event. both lost to highly seeded players. all players need more experience at this level but they also need to realise that they have to put in a great deal of work on their own games and be more enthusiastic and interested before they get much more out of tournaments like these

LIVERPOOL GRAND PRIX
Andrea Shorten (TDC Financial Services) who travelled with the Irish team to the Liverpool Grand Prix. This event attracts some of the top players from all over the UK and is an English National Ranking event. There was great excitement at the UCC Open when the news of Andrea’s results from Liverpool was text over. Andrea reached the semi final of the U14 event defeating No.2 seed Sophie Byron from Cheshire in the ¼ finals. Fiona Dennett, who has recently declared for Irish selection, eventually beat Andrea in the semi-finals. Fiona is currently based in Cheshire. Andrea who is currently Irish No.2 finished in third place.

The Irish Top 12
was held in ESB Sportco, Dublin on Sat/Sun 7/8th December.

Men - Due to the unavailibility of some players, the event was reduced to a Top 8.
Women - Due to the unavailibility of the top players, with only 3 players available,

Colum Slevin cancelled this event.
The following are the finishing positions;
1. J. Sugrue 7/7
2. A. Dennison 5/7
3. D. Lynch 4/7
4. M. McDonnell 4/7
5. C. Nolan 3/7
6. E. Byrne 3/7
7. J. Bowe 2/7
8. J. Murphy 0/7

Bowe & Byrne lead the way at Western Open
The Irish Squad returned late Sunday night from the ETTA Western Open Grand Prix in Bath, 30 Nov/1 Dec.

John Bowe (Eastpoint) was runner-up in Mens Band 2, losing to highly ranked English junior Stephen Denny 3-2 in the Final. Earlier, Denny had beaten Irish junior Conor Nolan (ALSAA) in the quarters. Bowe dug deep to reach the final, trailing 7-10 in the fifth set in the semi-final against England-based #10 seed Ayoade Ademakinwa, before calling a time-out and coming back to take the deciding set 12-10. En-route to the final, Bowe had wins over #3 seed Neil Wright (Wales) and #5 seed Shaun Marples (Eng).

Eoin Byrne (UCD) was runner-up in Mens Band 1, losing to Welsh defender Steve Hall 3-1 in the Final. Byrne beat compatriot & Connacht Open Champion Damien Lynch (Pioneers) 3-1 in the semi-final and former top English junior Craig Gascoyne in the quarters.

National U21 Champion Byrne also reached the semi-final of the U21 Mens Singles, beating fellow senior international Conor Nolan (ALSAA) 3-0 in the last 16 and also defeating England senior international and #3 seed Bryn Drinkhall in the quarters. In a thrilling semi-final, despite having match points in the 3rd set, Byrne lost out 3-2 to an in form Peter Cleminson of Peniel Academy in England.

Irish #1 and tournament 5th seed Jason Sugrue lost 3-1 in the last 16 to Welsh based Chinese 2nd seed Wang Ran. Controversially, Ran had earlier lost in his 1st round group to a player ranked over 320 places below him, thus switching to a different half of the draw. Ran had been seeded to meet fellow Welsh based Chinese Tang Jiang Feng in the semi finals, but instead met defending Grand Prix Champion and Welsh #1 Ryan Jenkins in an exciting semi final, eventually won deep in the fifth set by Ran. In an anti-climactic final, Feng defeated Ran 3-0.

In the ladies event, National Champion Tara Fusco was unlucky to be drawn with top seed and England #1 Nicola Deaton in the first round. Despite this, Fusco finished second in her group, however this threw her into another top seed in the second round where she was knocked out. In a seeding upset, Deaton reached the final where she was beaten by Welsh based Chinese Jie Xu 3-0.

Irish Senior Top 12
The Irish Senior Top 12 will take place in ESB Sportco on Sat/Sun 7th/8th December 2002.
Sat 7th Dec - 9.00 am to 1.00 pm
Sun 8th Dec - 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
Due to the time available, the event will be confined to 10 men and 8 women.

Our Man In Oslo Part 2.
23-24 November
My trip to Oslo this time was like a scene out of Dr. Zhivago. I had a long journey by train through the Norwegian countryside. The snow was falling all day and all night. Everything was covered in a white blanket of snow. My team Eiker had to play 4 matches all to be played on Saturday giving us time to watch the Elite Division matches on Sunday further north in B-72 Bordtennis Club where I met up with former Irish Coach Peter Nillson. I was pleased again with my performance winning 8 out of 8 singles matches and performing well in the doubles. The team drew 2 won 1 and lost 1.

I also gained valuable ranking points because I beat former Junior Norwegian Champion Tor Pettersen 3-1. I am currently ranked 35 and should shoot up 10 places.

I will return to Oslo in early January for our 3rd match.

Happy Xmas Everyone!

John Bowe

Results from STIGA Ulster Junior Open 16th November 2002

	U12 Girls	U12 Boys	U17 Girls	U17 Boys
1	J O'Donnell	M O'Flynn	S Conway	Na Ning
2	J-A Forbes	G Maguire	A Mogey	C Nolan
3	J Atwell	D Keenan	R O'Connor	J Murphy
4	C Nolan	D Budden	F Boyle	C Fahy
5	C Nelson	R Griffin	A D'Arcy	A Boland
6	R O'Neill	P McCreery	A Tobin	P Graham
7	T Cawley	D Mee	A Magee	S Givernaud
8	A Healy	N O'Flynn	Y Hurley	S Dolan

	U14 Girls		U14 Boys
1=	A Tobin	1=	K Knox
1=	D Douglas	1=	S Dolan
3	A O'Donnell	3	A Loane
4	L Healy	4	M O'Flynn
5=	A Shorten	5=	P Guy
5=	J O'Donnell	5=	I Jones
7=	F Mernagh	7	J Ray
7=	O Smith	8	A Holohan

Corporate Games
Unconfirmed reports in that Jonny Cowan won the corporate games event

Cowan seeking Seville success
JONNY Cowan, Ulster's leading table tennis star, is back in action in Seville competing in the World Corporate Games Championships.

Cowan, representing his employers, Anderson Consulting, has battled his way through from the UK Games and is keen to grab further honours after his successful run at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Meanwhile Na Ning, who lost out to Cowan in the quarter-finals of the Ulster Open Championships in October, is top seed for the H P Connaught Commercial Open Championships in Galway. He's just ahead of the Leinster trio of John Bowe, Marcus McDonnell and Conor Nolan. Tara Fusco is top women's seed with Kieran Burke as favourite to take the Galway veteran title while Norman Nabney is Ulster's leading veteran contender.

World Ranking November 2002
194 (185) 1081 SLEVIN Colum IRL
431 (420) 743 COWAN Jonathan IRL
545 (535) 557 DENNISON Andrew IRL
560 (550) 540 FITZGERALD Brian IRL
651 (643) 398 STRONG Daryl IRL
Women
312 (xxx) xxx GAO Jing Yi IRL
476 (446) 456 GLOVER Andrea IRL
491 (471) 371 MOUNTJOY Linda IRL

Hewlett Packard Connacht Commercial Table Tennis Open 2002
Talking live with Teresa Egan at 3pm the final of the Ladies Doubles between Louise Long and Linda O'Sullivan and Teresa Devaney and Orla Folan is just about to go on with the Vets singles well under way.

Hewlett Packard Connacht Commercial Table Tennis Open 2002
The Hewlett Packard Connacht Commercial Table Tennis Open 2002 got off to a great start tonight Friday 8/11/02 with the Mens Doubles, Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles events.There were great matches, enthralling rallies and lots of surprises....

All the Doubles events were played to the Semi-final stages and Finals will be held tomorrow afternoon Saturday 9/11/02 in the Commercial Boat Club, Galway.

Mens Doubles Semi-Finals:-
Norman Nabney IR No 27, Belfast and John Warners, Holland beat Terry Dolan IR No. 17 and Robbie Gavin IR No. 61, Commercial Boat Club, Galway 11/8, 7/11, 11/9, and 11/0. The Galway Duo were very unlucky in the last set as nothing worked for them despite some great rallies but Norman and John played very well together and won every point.

John Bowe IR No 4 and Conor Nolan IR No 9, Dublin beat Chris Calder and John Grey IR No 97, Belfast 11/7, 11/6 and 11/8.

Ladies Doubles Semi-Finals:-
Linda O'Sullivan IR No 11 and Louise Long IR No 12, Cork beat Tara Fusco IR No 2 and Rhonda Fox IR No 10, Dublin 7/11, 11/9 2/11, 11/7 and 11/8.

Teresa Devaney IR No 8, Dublin, and Orla Folan IRJ No. 20 Galway beat Teresa Egan IRJ No 29, Galway and Pauline Fitzsimons IRJ No 29, Dublin 11/6, 11/5 and 11/7.

Mixed Doubles Semi-Finals:-
Conor Fahy IR No 22, Dublin and Grainne McKenna IR JNo 20 beat John Warners, Holland and Louise Long IR No 12, Cork 11/7,6/11, 11/8 and 11/9.

John Bowe IR No 4 and Tara Fusco IR No 2, Dublin beat Conor Nolan IR No 9 and Teresa Devaney IR No 8, Dublin 11/9, 14/12 and 11/5.

Goodnight I'll send you the Results of the Finals tomorrow night. Teresa Egan

IRISH SENIOR RANKINGS
There's a new look to the Irish Senior Rankings with Jason Sugrue Ireland's latest edition to the team taking top honours after the South Counties and 6 Nations events. Ulsters Andrew Dennison continues to show good form early in the season with a move to 2nd place while last year's No.1 Brian Fitzgerald who has held the lead position for over two years slips to No.3. and Na Ning (Patrick Linn) moves to 4th.

The ladies also have a new leader with Michelle McGreevey as the new No.1 and Tara Fusco who is only 1 point behind the leader. Linda Mountjoy remains in the top 3 with a 90 point lead over her nearest rival Ross Carpenter.
Full Irish Rankings

Leinster Open
The Irish Veterans Table Tennis Open took place in the Irish Wheelchair premises on Sat 12th OCT 2002. Alarge entry ensured a very compeditive competition.

In the mens 40+there has been no back to back wins in the 3 Tournaments to date. Last years no 1 in the 40+ catagory Karim Sabir went out in the group stages. Terry Dolan winner of the 1st Tournanent of the Season went out in the Semi-Final while David Pemberton winner of the South County was beaten in the Final.Kieran Burke from Athlone emerged winner with a consistant display of attacking Table Tennisdefeating Terry Dolan in the Semi and after a titanic struggle David Pemberton in the Final.

The Ladies 40+was won by Teresa Devaney -her first win of the Season - with Terri Mc Keown runner up in a 6 group Round Robin.

The mens 50+ was won by Ulsters Norman Nabney beatinghis Provincial team mate Roy Copes in the Final. Semi-final losers were Tommy Caffrey and Danny O Sullivan.

In the Ladies 50+ there was a second win on the day for Teresa Devaney with Pauline Fitzsimons runner up.

The mens 60+ again provided a first win of the season for Roy Copes who defeated a very gallant Jim Shanahan from Waterford who for the first time reached a Final in the 60+ catagory.

The mens doubles again provided some excellant Table Tennis. The No1 seeds for the competition prevailed in the Final against the No4 seeds Tommy Caffrey and Oliver Adamson who had defeatedthe No2 seeds Terry Dolan and Keld Jaksland in the Semi Final.

A new addition to the Tournamentwas a grade B event. The inaugural Winner was Max Mc Neill who defeated Jack O Meara in the Final.

Irish Junior Ranking 1
Belfast - Saturday 5 October 2002
Top Sixteen results
Under 17 Boys
1 Na Ning L
2 Conor Fahy L
3 Peter Graham U
4 Brian Farrell L
5 Sean Givernaud L
6 Wayne Crawford U
7 Andrew Boland L
8 Killian Healy M
9.= Colin Shields M
Patrick Green L
Ross Cullen L
Josh Boyd U
D J Hickey L
Ed Wrynn L
Andrew Holohan L
Eoin McNally M

Under 17 Girls
1 Amanda Mogey U
2 Sabrina Conway L
3 Emma-Jane Helen M
4 Rachel O’Connor M
5 Fiona Boyle C
6 Fiona Mernagh L
7 Louise McElhatton C
8 Amy Tobin L
9.= Laura Healy L
Andrea Shorten M
Yvonne Hurley M
Sinead Kelly L
Orla Fahy L
Grainne McKenna L
Anna D’Arcy M
Danielle Douglas U

Under 14 Boys
1 Jonathan Ray L
2 Shane Dolan L
3 Ian Jones U
4 Patrick Guy U
5 Keith Knox U
6 Andrew Holohan L
7 Mark O’Flynn L
8 Gavin Maguire L
9.= Donal Vaughan L
Barry Horgan M
Daniel Keenan L
David Budden U
Andrew Loane U
Niall McDonnell L
Daniel O’Mahony M
Micheal McDonnell C

Under 14 Girls
1 Amy Tobin L
2 Andrea Shorten M
3 Fiona Mernagh L
4 Laura Healy L
5 Claire Nelson U
6 Danielle Douglas U
7 Jenny O’Donnell C
8 Fiona Downey L
9.= Michelle Melvin C
Ciara O’Donnell C
Julie-Anne Forbes L
Ciara Nolan L
Robyn McLean U
Rebekah O’Neill U
Orna Smith U
Rachele Walker U

Under 12 Boys
1 David Budden U
2 Mark O’Flynn L
3 Daniel Keenan L
4 Gavin Maguire L
5 Darren Casey M
6 Paul McCreery U
7 Ian Shellard M
8 Daniel Mee U
9.= Paul Robinson U
Mark Davidson U
Declan Doran L
Marcus Maxwell U
Neal O’Flynn L
Daniel Jones L
Thomas Mayne U
Eoin O’Callaghan M

Under 12 Girls
1 Julie-Anne Forbes L
2 Jenny O’Donnell C
3 Ciara Nolan L
4 Judith Atwell U
5 Claire Nelson U
6 Susan Nealon C
7 Tara Cawley C
8 Avril Healy L
9.= Lana Kaka U
Rebekah O’Neill U
Sarah Kenny L
Chelsey Kaka U
Kerri Handley U
Rebecca Kenny L
Susanne Givernaud L
Chloe Nealon C

Our man in Oslo by John Bowe
My first outing for my new league club Eiker BTK went very welland I won 6 out of 8 singles. I had some great wins that could have gone either way. I lost out to Sun Wen Wei from Taiwan. He plays for club Ham Kam and is ranked number 11 in Mens singles in Norway. He beat me 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6). I play again at the end of November and will keep you all at TTIreland posted



The following selections have been announced by the National Training & Selection Committee;
Junior British League, Norwich UK, 12/13 October
Sean Givernaud
John Murphy
Conor Nolan
Sabrina Conway
Amanda Mogey
Rachel O'Connor
NPC: Arthur Brett, Richard Butler

Training Camp, Falkenberg Sweden, 28 October - 2 November
Sean Givernaud
John Murphy
Conor Nolan
NPC: Marcus McDonnell

Stedet Open, Roskilde Denmark, 1-3 November
Andrew Boland
Ross Cullen
Conor Fahy
Peter Graham
Fiona Boyle
Emma-Jane Helen
NPC: Richard Butler, Louise Long

Norge Cup, Oslo Norway, 1-3 November
Shane Dolan
Patrick Guy
Keith Knox
Gavin Maguire

6 Nations Table Tennis Championships - Brief Report by W Alan Strong
"Welsh Wizards Walk Tall at Newtownabbey"
Wales stole a march over the young English Squad by retaining the Team Tile and grabbing the new Men's Team Trophy with an emphatic 4-1 win over the English, while Ireland promoted by 1 place into Bronze medal position.

Irish Men, led by new cap Jason Sugrue, opened with a 3-2 victory over Scotland, and later crushed Guernsey & Isle of Man, each 5-0. Sugrue, beating Gavin Rumgay (3-2) and Stewart Crawford (3-0), was ably backed by Brian Fitzgerald, with a vital win over Crawford (3-0) and Andrew Dennison (losing MD to Crawford/Rumgay, 2-3).

Irish Women also beat Scotland 302, pulling back from the brink with determined wins by Michelle McGreevy, over Claire Bentley, Linda Mountjoy, over Nicola Bentley, and the McGreevy/Tara Fusco doubles taking out the Bentley sisters (3-2)

Final Team Places: 1. Wales 2. England 3. Ireland 4. Scotland 5. Guernsey 6. Isle of Man

Adam Robertson and Bethan Daunton continued the Welsh success with Singles Titles returning with Welsh Coaches Alan Griffiths and Li Chao. Fitzgerald returned from French Club duties to reach the Men's Semis, losing to champion Robertson, while McGreevy was the best of the Irish women with wins over Gillian Edwards (Sco) and Natalie Bawden (Eng) before losing to Louise Durrant (Eng) in the Quarters.

MS - A Robertson (Wal) bt R Jenkins (Wal) -8, 8, -4, 8, 7
WS - B Daunton (Wal) bt K Parker (Eng) 9, 6, 8

Our man in Olso
Just to let you know that John Bowe will be playing in the Norwegian Table Tennis league this season for a club called EIKER. The club is situated 50km from oslo. He will play in the first division and have his first match on Saturday.

NEWS FLASH Our sources revealed today that two of the top seeds for the first Irish Junior Ranking of the season, John Murphy and Conor Nolan won't be at IJR at weekend as they are playing a league match in France for the same team as Brian Fitzgerald. Good luck lads!

'Irish Junior Ranking Tournament, on 5 October 2002, has been switched from Valley Leisure Centre to MAYSFIELD LEISURE CENTRE, East Bridge Street, Belfast (near Belfast Central Station). Times remain as before BUT entry deadline has been extended to Tues 1 October 2002. This event will operate under the new age limits - to compete in Junior events, players must have had 17th Brthday on or after 1 January 2002; similar for Cadet & Under 12 categories'

South Counties News by Tommy Fitzgerald
Conor Nolan reached the final of the doubles with John Murphy and mixed doubles with Teresa Devaney but came down with the vomiting bug so on finals night W/overs were given to Winners Sean Givernaud(Eastpoint) and Na Ning(Alsaa) and mixed doubles winners Andrew Dennison and Tara Fusco.In the singles Darryl strong lost to Philip Wallace (N.I player) John Bowe beat Tommy Caffrey in the semis, Na Ning beat E.Byrne(UCD) in Q/Finals and Andrew Dennison in the semis and John Bowe (E.Point) in final 3-1. John Murphy lost in the opening group tp Andrew Dennison and Tommy Caffrey. Ladies semi final saw Sabrina lost to Teresa Devaney and Rhonda Fox lost to Tara Fusco. Final 3-1 to Tara against Teresa. Vets final Dave Pemberton beat Tommy Caffrey in semi and Kerim Sabir in final

Wales are kings at the Valley
ADAM Robertson and Bethan Daunton from Wales stole the show at the Six Nations table tennis championships in the Valley Leisure Centre ensuring that England took only one title and Wales dominated the international weekend.

Ireland's bronze in the team event, secured through third places in both men's and women's team categories, was well deserved, improving by one place from 2001 and showing a new drive by their respective Number ones, Jason Sugrue and Michelle McGreevy.

Michelle continued her good form yesterday by running off a series of wins before losing to Louise Durrant (England) in the quarters, but lefthander Bethan Daunton regained the women's single trophy with a dynamic attacking performance over English defender, Katy Parker.

Adam Robertson, the 18-year-old Welsh professional, based in Wurzburg, Germany, excited the crowd with a five set final men's singles win over his team partner, Butterfly Super Grand Prix champion, Ryan Jenkins, winning his first Home Countries title, much to the pleasure of his parents and Welsh coach, Alan Griffiths.

Brian Fitzgerald (Ireland) lost to Robertson in the semis while Andrew Dennison scored a notable win over England's Bryn Drinkhall before losing to Jenkins in the quarters.

Wales had earlier recorded a 4-1 success over England in the men's team event, losing 3-2 in the women's final, while Ireland's 3-2 victories in both team events over Scotland, featured Sugrue, Fitzgerald, Dennison, Conor Nolan, McGreevy, Linda Mountjoy and Tara Fusco in their success.

New boy keeps Ireland in frame
A NEW look Irish team scored a brilliant 6-4 victory over Scotland in the Six Nations championships at the Valley Leisure Centre while champions England crushed the Isle of Man 10-0.

New Irish cap, Jason Sugrue from London, played a vital role with two singles wins against the Scottish side which is also under re-design, while Brian Fitzgerald took a further vital win to ensure a 3-2 men's victory.

However, the Irish success was completed when the female trio of Michelle McGreevy, Linda Mountjoy and Tara Fusco were also 3-2 winners over Scotland, coming back from a 2-0 deficit.

Wales were easy 10-0 winners over Guernsey, fielding their Commonwealth Games silver medallists Ryan Jenkins and Adam Robertson and will surely threaten the young English squad today.

Ireland can now hope for at least bronze medals while the individual Six Nations championships continue tomorrow at the Valley Leisure Centre.

Six Nations Team Results: Wales 10, Guernsey 0; England 10, Isle of Man 0;

Ireland 6, Scotland 4: J Sugrue bt S Crawford 11-8 11-3 12-10, B Fitzgerald lost G Rumgay 5-11 2-11 11-8 11-5 8-11, A Dennison and J Sugrue lost S Crawford and G Rumgay 11-8 11-7 7-11 4-11 8-11, B Fitzgerald bt S Crawford 11-9 11-5 11-6, J Sugrue bt G Rumgay 11-6 7-11 11-6 15-13, L Mountjoy lost C Bentley 11-7 6-11 9-11 3-11, M McGreevy lost N Bentley 7-11 6-11 13-15, M McGreevy and T Fusco bt C and N Bentley 8-11 11-8 7-11 11-3 11-7, M McGreevy bt C Bentley 11-1 7-11 11-7 13-11, L Mountjoy bt N Bentley 11-5 11-8 5-11 11-2.

The current British League Premier Division champions, London Progress will be competing against top European opposition in the first round groups of the European ‘Nancy Evans’ Club Cup competition over the weekend.

New Irish player Jason Sugrue will be rushed back to the club from Northern Ireland after making his debut for Ireland in the 6 Nations Home Countries International in Newtownabbey in order to play for his club London Progress. the team includes former England international Andrew Eden, and former England junior international Cris Sladden, will be taking on TTC Hasselt, Belgium (8pm Saturday), Caen TTC, France (10am Sunday) and GS do Estreto Camara de Lobos, Portugal (2pm Sunday) at their Willesden High School, North West London home base.

ITTA Ltd are hosting the 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIPS at VALLEY LEISURE CENTRE
Newtownabbey from 20-22 September 2002.
TEAM EVENT - Fri 7pm, Sat 9am TO 7.30pm
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS Sun at 10am - 4pm
admission is free!!
ANY VOLUNTEER UMPIRES WILL BE WELCOMED AND FED.
THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ø England return as team title holders to compete against the dynamic Welsh Squad, Scotland, Guernsey, Isle of Man and host nation Ireland

Ø Bethan Daunton (Wales) will defend her Women's Singles trophy, but reigning Men's champion. Euan Walker (Sco) will be on the bench in a new role as Non-Playing Captain

Ø Irish Selectors, lead by National coach Colum Slevin, have made a controversial selection by including London-based Jason Sugrue for his first cap, and 16 year old Conor Nolan (Dublin)

Ø Andrew Dennison, Assistant Manager at Sixmile Leisure Centre, gains further Irish recognition, teaming up with Sugrue, Nolan and Brian Fitzgerald (Cork) on the Men's side

Ø Michelle McGreevy (Raffrey) has continued her excellent form at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealths by taking a English Band 1 Grand Prix title in Liverpool, as well as winning the Irish Classification event in Dublin, AND has been handed the anchor role on the Irish side for the 6 Nations. She is joined by Linda Mountjoy (Cork) and Tara Fusco (Dublin) with no place for her N Ireland partner Andrea Glover. The leading NI Commonwealth player Jing Yi Gao turned down her first Irish cap as she further prepares for the new season

Ø England will field a youth team, led by Dale Barham and the leading female defender Katy Parker. Katy (aged 16) is daughter of former European and Commonwealth champion Jill Hammersley-Parker and former English Director of Coaching Don Parker

Ø Leading players on show are - Ryan Jenkins & Adam Robertson (Welsh Commonwealth Silver medallists), Gavin Rumgay and Nicola Bentley (Scotland), Barham & Parker (England), John Magnall and Maggie Mulhern (Isle of Man), Lucas Waring and Dawn Morgan (Guernsey) and McGreevy and Sugrue (Ireland)

Ø Play commences at the Valley at 7pm on Friday 20 September with the opening team Matches. Featuring Ireland v Scotland; Wales v Guernsey and England v I o Man

Ø Team Matches will continue on Saturday with a full round-robin, finishing at 7.30pm

Ø 6 Nations Individual Championships will be held on Sunday 22 Sept, with Jenkins & Daunton (Wales) tipped to claim gold, but McGreevy (Ire), Barham (Eng), Robertson (Wal), Parker (Eng) and Rumgay (Sco) are hotly tipped to challenge the Welsh leading seeds.

Adamson & Caffrey Strike Gold At Six Nations
The sixth annual Veterans Six Nations Championships took place in Largs Scotland last weekend. The Irish Veterans teams performed admirally in the different grades in both Team and Individual competition. The 40+ Team of Karim Sabir, Tommy Caffrey, Dave Pemberton, Peter Clarke, Teresa Devaney, Jenny Harrison and Carmel Lokko took silver behind a very strong English Team.

In the 50+ Category the team of Norman Nabney, Oliver Adamson, Roy Coard and Margerie McNeill took the bronze medal behind England and Scotland. The 60+ Team of Ted Maheffy, Usher Watson, Roy Copse and Dorothy Taylor also took silver behind England.

In the Individual Events Irish players took their greatest number of medals to date. In the Ladies 50+ Individual Competition Teresa Devaney took the silver medal. In the Ladies 50+ Doubles, the tema of Teresa Devaney and Margorie McNeill also took the silver medal again behind England.

The Mens 60+ Doubles who were defending their crown had to be content this time with the silver medal again, against a very strong English team. In the Mens 50+ Doubles the Irish finally achieved the gold their play highly deserved. The team of Tommy Caffrey and Oliver Adamson, playing together for the first time since winning the Irish Close Championship 30 years ago in 1972, overcame some very strong team combinations to take the honours. The Irish duo defeated the Welsh number one pair in the Semi-finals to set up a final against the Scottish number one pairing who had defeated the highly fancied English favourites in the other Semi-final. Rolling back the years the Irish duo played outstanding Table Tennis to defeat the Scottish pairing in five tension filed sets. Caffrey using all his experience to set up Adamson's attacking shots on both forehand and backhand to finallly win the day.

Six Nations Championship Selections
The National Training & Selection Committee have announced the following selections for the Six Nations Championship, Valley Leisure Centre Newtownabbey, 20-22 September 2002.

Mens; Andrew Dennison, Brian Fitzgerald, Conor Nolan, Jason Sugrue

Ladies; Tara Fusco, Jing Yi Gao, Michelle McGreevy, Linda Mountjoy

Irish Classification Tournament, IWA Hall, 31 August/1 September 2002
Results from the Classification are
1.Jason Sugrue
2.Ning Na
3.Brian Fitzgerald
4.Daryl Strong
5.Terry Dolan
6.Conor Nolan
7.John Bowe
8.Marcus McDonnell
9.Kieron Burke
10.Dave Pemberton
11.Sean Givernaud
12.Kevin Devaney
13.John Murphy
Colin Byrne and Mark White withdrew in the course of the tournament.

Ladies
1.Michelle McGreevy
2.Jenny Harrison
3.Tara Fusco
4.Ros Carpenter
5.Linda Mountjoy
6.Sabrina Conway
7.Linda O'Sullivan
8.Rhonda Fox

The first Irish senior ranking tournament of the season, run by John O'Donoghue on behalf of the NTSC, took place at the weekend in the IWA Hall, with a few new names, plus some of the usual suspects.

Despite having to come through qualification on Saturday, as they carried no ranking points from last season, there was no great surprise that the mens final was contested by Jason Sugrue of ETTA Champions London Progress (playing his first Irish tournament) and Chinese student Na Ning, playing in ALSAA. Defending champion Brian Fitzgerald (Eastpoint) finished in 3rd spot.

Performance of the weekend goes to the evergreen and impressively fit Terry Dolan(Commercial, Galway), fresh from his Vets win the previous weekend, who finished in 5th spot, notching up victories over Senior International John Bowe(Eastpoint) and also beating top juniors Conor Fahy (ALSAA), Sean Givernaud(Eastpoint), John Murphy & Conor Nolan(both ALSAA).

Despite the large entry, the top order was a little depleted, with the absence of Eoin Byrne(UCD) and Damien Lynch(Pioneers), both on holidays, and the late withdrawal of National Champion Andrew Dennison(Glenburn), while on the day Colin Byrne(UCD) and Mark White(CIT) were also forced to withdraw.

The Ladies event also had a number of highly ranked players absent, however as all 8 players in the final group were ranked inside the top 12, there were less surprises here. Michelle McGreevy(Belfast) won the event, with English Vet Jenny Harrison in 2nd place (despite losing her final match to Sabrina Conway(Raven)), while National Champion Tara Fusco(York Rd.) came third. Fusco will be joined by Linda Mountjoy(UCC) and Michelle McGreevy(Belfast) at the Womens British League in 2 weeks time, with a second team, made up of Conway, Linda O'Sullivan(St. Angela's) and Rhonda Fox(York Rd.) also travelling.

Veterans Home Countries International
This event is being held in Largs at the Inverclyde National sports Centre on 13, 14 and 15th September with teams from England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Jersey/Guernsey.

LIVERPOOL OPEN GRAND PRIX FINALS
MEN,
BAND 1 FINAL : K. Dolder (Lancs) Bt Conor Nolan (Ireland) 11-6, 11-6, 13-11
BAND 2 FINAL : John Bowe (Ireland) Bt S. Gertsen (Wales) 11-9, 3-11, 12-10, 11-3

WOMEN,
BAND 1 : Michelle McGreevy (Ireland) bt J Morley (Gloucs) 11-7 13-11 11-4

NATIONAL COMMUNITY GAMES FINALS
Cork won both National titles at this years Community Games finals in Mosney. The girls of Enniskeane / Ballineen (Emma Jane Helen, Andrea Shorten & Marie McSweeney) beat the Leinster Champions in the semi-final and went on to narrowly beat the Connaucht Champions in the Final. All three girls train at the Kinneigh Club.

The Ballincollig boys returned their second National Title comfortably. The team of Eoin McNally, Killian Healy, David Buckley and Mike Spitere all train at the new Ballincollig Club near Cork City.

EUROPEAN YOUTHS
Day 3
Junior Boys
Lost Estonia (3-0)
Beat Finland (3-1) Nolan 2 + Murphy

Junior Girls
Lost Finland (3-2)Conway & Mogey

Cadet Boys
Lost Finland (3-0)

Day 2
Junior Boys
Lost to Slovenia (3-0)
Lost to Switzerland (3-0)

Junior Girls
Lost to Cyprus (3-0)

Cadet Boys
Lost to Georgia (3-2)
lost to Turkey (3-0)

First day results
Junior Boys receive walkover (Israel)

Junior Girls
Lost England (3-0)
Lost Latvia (3-0)

Cadet Boys
Lost Lithuania (3-1)

The Home Countries Championships
The Home Countries Veterans Championships will take place in Largs Scotland from the 13th to 15th September 2002. Teams from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man and for the first time a team from Guernsey.

The following are the Irish teams selected for the competition:
40+ Men: 1. Karim Sabir 2. Tommy Caffrey(capt.) 3. Dave Pemberton 4. Jimmy Robinson
40+ Ladies: 1. Teresa Devaney 2. Jenny Harrison 3. Carmel Lokko
50+ Men: 1. Norman Nabney (capt.)2. Oliver Adamson 3. Roy Coard
50+ Ladies: 1. Margerie McNeill
60+ Men: 1. Ted Mahaffy (capt.) 2. Usher Watson 3. Roy Copes
60+ Ladies: 1. Dorothy Taylor

Team events take place on Friday and Saturday while Sunday is devoted to the Individual Competitions. The Irish squad will hope to improve on last years performance where the Mens 60+ Doubles team of Roy Copes and Ted Mahaffy won gold and also in the Ladies 60+ Dorothy Taylor took silver in the Ladies Singles.