Wheelchair Table-Tennis: Medal Success for Irish

The Irish Wheelchair Association Open International Wheelchair Table Tennis Tournament took place at the IWA Sports Centre, Clontarf from 20th-22nd April 2007. This event was supported by the Irish Sports Council.

The event which is a World Ranking Tournament is now world renowned with 95 players from more than 20 countries taking part, including the  USA, Japan and Russia, along with many of our European neighbours.  For many athletes this tournament was an essential part of their qualification for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.  The qualification period for Paralympic Table Tennis concludes on 31st December 2007.  Athletes must ensure that they finish in the top 8 on the World Ranking list to achieve qualification for Beijing 2008.

Irish players featured in both the men's and women's events. Leading the Irish challenge in the women's event was Dublin’s Kathleen Reynolds who is currently ranked 8th in the world in her classification.

As with all competitive events for athletes with physical disabilities there are different categories.  Athletes are classified according to the functional ability.  This allows for fair competition against athletes with similar degrees of disability.

In order to maximize opportunities for world ranking points the Irish Women’s trio team split and Kathleen Reynolds teamed up with Russian athlete Nadejda Pouchpacheva to win the Women’s Class 3 Team Event on Saturday.  On  Sunday, Kathleen went on to win bronze in the singles event, which was won by Sara Head from Great Britain.  Eimear Breathnach won silver in the Women’s Class 2 event, which was won by Russian Nadejda Pouchpacheva.

In the men’s event, the best of the Irish was Ronan Rooney, who narrowly missed out on the Bronze medal in Class 2 singles, in a match that went to the final point in the 5th set.

For Further Information: Mairéad Farquharson, Tournament Director 087 280 1181