The excellent facilities of Lisburn Racquets Club once again paid host to the Ulster Schools’ Cup Individual tournaments held on the 17th April 2024. A big entry for the event required some changes to the usual group / knock out format, for some of the events with larger than usual entries. The new format was designed to ensure each player played a minimum of 3 matches in their event. A record 339 entries were received from schools and the hall had 28 tables set up and available to use. These were the parameters in which the new format was set to work. Unfortunately, on the day of the event, 55 players did not attend, approximately 15% of the total entries. This resulted in some players not playing the 3 matches that the format should have provided. To those players I extend my sincere apologies.
The 284 players that attended the event was in itself a record attendance trumping last year’s record figures of 261 players. Schools from all over Ulster were in attendance: even those schools that had to travel considerable distances were all in the Hall by 10.20. A big thank you to the schools for their endeavours to reach Lisburn Racquets in good time.
Councillor Andrew Gowan, Mayor of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council attended the tournament and was most impressed by the scale of the event and the talent on show. It was also great to see Table Tennis Ireland’s new Chief Executive Officer, David McNally, pay a brief visit in the morning. Such visitors give a little more kudos to the event which was apparently one of the largest gatherings of table tennis players ever in Northern Ireland.
Before going into who won what, I must give a big hearted thank you to the team of volunteers who worked assiduously behind the scenes setting up the tables late Tuesday night for the Wednesday tournament. Arnold Morgan, Chair of TTI, Pat Hunter President of TTI, TTU executive board members Ranjit Singh, John McFaul, Jennifer Thompson and Adrian Brown: the top brass in Irish table tennis were not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get “stuck in” to the arduous task of preparing the Hall. Without this level of dedication tournaments don’t happen.
Then there were the monitors on the day checking that games were progressing smoothly, stepping in to umpire as required, returning match sheets to the top table when abandoned at the umpire desk. Thank you, Gary O’Hara, Francis Shirley, Ala Al Janabi and Robert Wilson.
Last but in no means least were the top table officials n charge of the various competitions: thank you Jimmy Sterling, Charlotte Sterling, Rodney Scott, Gillian Alsopp, Sandra Wilson, David Hutchinson and Robin Agnew: your help was invaluable.
Now it’s time to get down to the nuts and bolts of who won what. And the winners at the Post Primary Schools’ Individual Championships 2024 are:
U19 Boys
Gold: Ben Watson – Grosvenor
Silver: Aedan McGivern – Abbey Christian Brothers
Bronze: Euan Hannah – Grosvenor & Junior Close – Grosvenor
U19 Boys Consolation
Gold: Avam Wylie- Monaghan Collegiate
Silver: Alex Garvin – RBAI
Bronze: A Cathcart- Enniskillen Royal & Achmed Nawaz – Errigal College
U19 Girls
Gold: Emily Flynn – Bloomfield Collegiate
Silver Anjali Singh – Strathearn School
Bronze: Lily Smith – Sullivan Upper & Crystal Ho – Royal School Dungannon
U19 Girls Consolation
Gold: Alayah Peniero – Banbridge Academy
Silver: Selena Byrnes – Sullivan Upper
Bronze: n/a
U16 Boys
Gold: Aaditya Singh – RBAI
Silver: Daniel McFaul – Friends
Bronze: Jack Bailie – Grosvenor & Josh Peniero – Banbridge Academy
U16 Boys Consolation
Gold: Zach Scott – Banbridge Academy
Silver: Jack McManus – St Catherine’s College, Armagh
M Wilson – Enniskillen Royal & Adam Dawson – St Aidan’s Comprehensive
U16 Girls
Gold: Grace Looney – Methodist College Belfast
Silver: Niamh Mason – Assumption Grammar Ballynahinch
Bronze: Lily Parke – Grosvenor & Rebecca Scott – Bloomfield Collegiate
U16 Girls Consolation
Gold: Sophie Close- Bloomfield Collegiate
Silver: Jessica Cochrane – Bloomfield Collegiate
Bronze: Jasmine Doyle – St Aidan’s Comprehensive & Bethan Allen – Bloomfield Collegiate
U14 Boys
Gold: Christopher Allsop – RBAI
Silver: Toby Caldwell – Sullivan Upper
Bronze: Isaac Gough – Friends & Ben-Lee Cheung – Drumragh Integrated College Omagh
U14 Boys Consolation
Gold: Alfie Kennedy – Grosvenor
Silver: Joshua Tierney – Friends Lisburn –
Bronze: Jack Eaton – Royal and Prior Comprehensive School & Jay Topping – Sullivan Upper
U14 Girls
Gold: Eimear Hutchinson – Enniskillen Royal Grammar
Silver: Maddie Armstrong – Strathearn
Bronze: Kelsey Fannin – St Catherine’s College, Armagh & Faith Stevenson – Home School
U14 Girls Consolation
Gold: Nuria Goldston – St. Catherine’s College, Armagh
Silver: Sarah Martin – Banbridge Academy
Bronze: Ruby Wilkin – Monaghan Collegiate & Lily Woods – Banbridge Academy
U12 Boys
Gold: Karstan Close – Grosvenor
Silver: Matthew Bailie – Grosvenor
Bronze: Israel Stevenson – Home School & Curtis Rutten – Banbridge Academy
U12 Boys Consolation
Gold: Senan Gordon – St. Catherine’s College, Armagh
Silver: Caoimhin Quinn – St. Catherine’s College, Armagh
Bronze: Charlie Alderdice – Killicomaine Junior High & Yao Liang – Enniskillen Royal
U12 Girls
Gold: Polly Smith – Sullivan Upper
Silver: Lea Gal – Bloomfield Collegiate
Bronze: Jenny McQuiston – Banbridge Academy & Jane Wilson – Strathearn
U12 Girls Consolation
Gold: Katie Bond – Sullivan Upper
Silver: Poppy Hannath – Killicomaine Junior High
Bronze: Sophia Robertson- Sullivan Upper & Harriett Davidson – Killicomaine Junior High
Norman McBride
Secretary
Ulster Schools’ Table Tennis Association
19th April 2024