TABLE TENNIS STIGA Irish National Junior Championships 2009

An Irish Men's Squad led by National coach Peter Nilsson travelled to Germany on 12th September to represent Ireland in the top European table tennis competition, the European Senior Championships. John Murphy, Gavin Maguire and Sam Hanley formed the squad, with Murphy experienced at this level accompanied by two of Ireland's brightest talents making their debut at the European Seniors.


This was an extremely well prepared Irish team, having spent over two weeks in the lead-up to the event at an intensive Swedish training camp under the guidance of coach Nilsson. Training in Halmstad BTK with players such as Fredrik Hهkansson (former European and World champion), Wang Jiangfeng and Peter Nilsson (world champion for juniors) and the other players in Halmstad BTK's best training group was a fantastic experience for the squad. The Swedish trip also saw the players entered into two tough tournaments, the Vaxjo Grand Prix and the Halmstad Masters Grand Prix. Speaking to ITTAWeb following the camp, Coach Nilsson was happy overall with the camp and the team's preparations: "The Vنxjِ Grand Prix tournament is a very strong tournament and we could have played a little better! We must improve serve, return, first attack and first block. During the Halmstad Masters tournament the players played much better! They had improved serve and returns and was a little safer on the first attack. The best result was Sam Hanley when he came to the last 8 in junior boys. It will be an interesting Europeans where we have an interesting draw in the team event! If all 3 players play there best at the same time we could be number 1 or 2 in the group and have a chance to go up 1 division."

So a well prepared Irish team then began their promotion campaign with a tough tie against group favourites Lithuania on Sunday 13th September. The team suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss, ensuring that they would have to win the remainder of their group matches to secure 2nd place in the group and go into the play-offs. The Irish had to bounce back quickly from this defeat to have any chance of progressing in the group with their 2nd match against San Marino. This was a better performance from Maguire, Murphy and Hanley who all took a match each to get the Irish So with one win and one loss, the Irish could not afford to slip up again in Group J. Day 2 of the event saw the Irish cruise to victory against Malta and Kosovo before facing Armenia in the crucial battle for 2nd place

The Butterfly sponsored Irish team had developed confidence with these wins and ultimately triumphed over a strong Armenia team. Ken Strong, the ITTA Delegate at the ETTU Congress and other meetings, described the performance against Armenia as "a particularly focused and awesome display by our young players, capably led by John Murphy and expertly coached by Peter Nilsson".

For Sam Hanley, National Junior Champion and Gavin Maguire, National Senior Champion at 18 years of age, the tournament was a tremendous experience and both grew in strength and confidence over the course of the tournament With four wins in a row, the Irish progressed to the Promotion Play-Offs.

First up in the play-offs was a strong Netherlands team, which was in the Premier Division a few short years ago. The Irish fought hard against their more experienced opponents, but the Dutch took the match on a 3:0 score line. That left the team with one match to secure promotion and perhaps gain revenge over the Lithuanians. With everything at stake, the Lithuanians surged into an early lead with Maguire and Murphy losing closely to Martinkus and Domeika respectively.

The Irish did not lie down however, and Sam Hanley produced a fantastic performance to defeat Udra and Murphy levelled the tie at 2:2 with a good win over Martinkus. That left Maguire in the pressure-cooker situation of having to defeat Domeika to secure promotion for Ireland. This looked a tall order but Maguire produced some scintillating table tennis to take the match to 5 sets and was unfortunate to eventually lose the final set 12:10 having saved 3 match points.

Ireland then just missed out on promotion by 2 points in the final set of the Lithuania match but demonstrated encouraging signs and great battling qualities. On reflection, ITTA Technical Director John O'Donoghue was happy with the team's performance, stating: "We were pleased with the performance at the European Seniors, our young team gained very valuable experience and their performance in getting to the semi-final of their Division was one of the best in recent times. Unfortunately, they just missed out on promotion to the 2nd tier in a thriling battle losing 3:2 to Lithuania. The performance is encouraging for the future as the team now looks towards the Senior 6 Nations and beyond to the World Championships in 2010."

Squad:

• John Murphy
• Sam Hanley
• Gavin Maguire
• Peter Nilsson(Coach)
• Ken Strong(ITTA Delegate)

For further information on this tournament, please contact ITTA Manager, Darren Coombes:

DD: +353 (01) 625 1135
Fax: +353 (01) 625 1136
Mob: +353 (087) 699 0115
Email: manager@irishtabletennis.com