News
Ulster Junior Open: Review
20 October 2011
A re-scheduled Ulster Junior Open took place at the weekend, the re-scheduling caused by a number of factors, but in particular the Pre-Olympic Training Camp to be held at the Valley Leisure Centre in the originally scheduled week.
Tony Phillips, the Tournament Organiser, took the ambitious decision to attempt to play both Consolation events for first round losers and Plate events for second round losers, which gave an average 7 matches per player overall, a maximum of 10 matches for the top 8 in the U17 Boys and a minimum of 5 matches in the U10 Girls.
There were one or two hiccups on Saturday as some changes were needed for the U17 and U14 Boys draw, but, with excellent co-operation from players and coaches, both days ran to time and finished early enough for everyone to get home at a reasonable hour. All in all, about 640 matches were played on the two days, with many players still on the tables until very close to the end of the event, having played through most of the day.
Girls Events
Ashley Givan once again reigned supreme in the U17 Girls beating Edel O’Reilly 11-7, 13-11, 11-7 in the Final, and Erin Thompson upset the seedings by reaching the Top 8. Emma Ludlow won the Plate and Brielle Brady the Consolation.
Both Hannah Lynch-Dawson and Katie McGlone had a clear run to the Final in the U14 Girls, with Hannah beating Katie 11-0, 11-8, 11-5. Kate Whelan won the Plate and Mair Kelly the Consolation.
In the U12 Girls all the top four seeds reached the Semi-Finals, with Kate Whelan successfully retaining her No 1 position by beating Rebecca Finn 11-7, 11-6, 11-5. Leanne Delaney won the Plate with no Consolation event being required.
The Under 10 Girls was largely populated by Ulster Players, and the single group was won by Ciara O’Toole, beating Jessie Hayes 10-12, 5-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9 in a closely fought match.
Boys Events
In the U17 Boys Ryan Farrell and Shi Zhao Li fought a very close final with Ryan running out the winner 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8. Alan Walsh and Jonathan Porter upset the seedings by reaching the Top 8. James O’Reilly was the Plate winner, Tom Davis won the A Consolation and Bogdan Pop the B Consolation.
There were a number of surprising upsets in the U14 Boys, with only Kevin Hutchinson reaching his seeded place, beating James O’Reilly 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 in the Final, and Zak Wilson came a very creditable third, having begun further down the rankings. The Plate winner was Conor Gallagher, the A consolation was won by Stephen Farrell, and the B Consolation by Sam Hardiman.
Evin McGovern beat Alexander Gillen 11-8, 11-7, 3-11, 11-7 in the U12 Boys, reversing the result from the Junior Classification. James Joyce won the Plate, Tadgh Downey the A Consolation and Alex McGovern the B Consolation.
The U10 Boys, again a mostly Ulster event, was played throughout in a series of groups, Owen Cathcart successfully beating Ethan Duffy 11-9, 15-13, 7-11, 12-10 to win the event, with Jason Zhang winning the Consolation, no Plate event being required.
Many thanks to those who contributed to two successful days, particularly Jamie and Stuart McConkey who ran the computer software alongside the usual paper method. At present, the conclusion seems to be that, for its costs, the software does little to help the scheduling of the event, and only marginally improves the process of producing an original draw and checking the set-up of the final rounds.
Thanks as well to the Umpires who came, Tom Mitchell, Jay McAllister, Arnold Morgan and Ted Mahaffy, and to the others who helped set up the event, especially Cathryn Gibson, our new Administrative Officer, who dealt magnificently with taking entries and collecting fees in her first major test.
