Table Tennis - Six Nations Primary Schools Championships

International Table Tennis comes to Cork for the first time in many years as the Irish Table Tennis Association hosts the 6 Nations Primary Schools Table Tennis Championships at Parochial Hall, Gurranabraher, Cork, on Fri 13th, Sat 14th and Sun 15th April.

The event is supported by the Irish Sports Council and John Treacy, CEO Irish Sports Council stated “the Six Nations Primary Schools Table Tennis Championships in Cork are an important event on the Irish Table Tennis Calendar in 2007. I would like to welcome all of the young table tennis players to the Parochial Hall, Gurranbraher, particularly those from England, Scotland, Wales, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

As many of the leading young table tennis players in these countries will be competing, I have no doubt that it will be an excellent weekend of table tennis and that some of the players will achieve many successes in their future table tennis careers. It should be a great spectacle for table tennis enthusiasts and the general sporting public in Cork.

I wish the organisers, players and spectators a great weekend and I hope all the young participants perform to the optimum of their ability in all their matches.”

A Welcome reception will be held at Parochial Hall at 6.30pm on Friday with Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, Cork City Council, Cllr. Michael and Eileen Ahern attending along with Cllr. Derry Canty representing the Mayor, Cork County Council.

Teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Ireland compete for team and individual titles. The first round of the team event begins at 7.30 on Friday night with the other four rounds on Saturday, commencing at 9.30am. The event will conclude with the singles event on Sunday, commencing at 9am.

As always England are the favourites for this event but Ireland have a great record at this level, over the years. In the Girls event last year's semi-finalist Emily Bates, the current No. 1 in the English Ranking list, will be the favourite to take the singles title. She will need to battle hard to overcome Scottish No. 1 Lesley Atkins and Welsh No. 1 Amy Palin, with the prospect of one of the Irish girls causing an upset also a distinct possiblility. In the Boys event Helshan Weerasinghe is ranked No 8 in the English Ranking list and will possibly start as favourite. He will face tough opposition from Scotland No. 1 Liam O'Shaughnessy and Wales No. 1 Huw Jones, while the Irish contingent are more than capable of matching these players. The seedings for the singles will be calculated from the performance of each player in the team event.

A tough, tense and exciting weekend is in store for table tennis enthusiasts with many close battles expected from these talented young players. Please come along to support the Irish team from 7pm to 9pm on Friday, from 9.30am to 6.30pm on Saturday and from 9am to 3pm on Sunday.

For further information: contact Michael Healy on 085 1743970