On Wednesday 26th February, RBAI had two teams that took part in the Ulster Table Tennis Team Championships. The competition saw a record turnout this year, with 312 players across 52 teams competing for the prestigious opportunity to represent Ulster at the All-Ireland Table Tennis Finals in Dublin this April. We entered a team in the Under 15’s Boy competition and one in the Under 19’s Boys competition.
Our Under 19 team consisted of Charlie Grant, Patrick Young, John Cunningham, Charlie Gray, Alex Garvin, Jacob Smyth and Alexander Gray. The team top their group in the opening stage beating Banbridge High School and Cavan Royal. The boys progressed to play Enniskillen Royal in the Quarter finals where they defeated them 5-3. In the Semi-Final they played a very good Friends School team eventually losing to them 5-1. In the 3rd/4th Playoff the boys faced Monaghan Collegiate losing 5-2 to ultimately finish fourth overall. The boys played some exceptional Table Tennis to reach the Semi-Final.
Our Under 15 team consisted of Christopher Allsop, Dylan Shanmuganathan, James Vallelly, Bryson McClelland, Harry Greer, and Aaditya Singh. Again, the boys topped their group beating Enniskillen Royal B and St Patrick’s Dungannon. They then played Enniskillen Royal A in the Semi-Final beating them 6-3 to reach the Final where they played Sullivan Upper. This was a tight match and after all the singles matches where played the match was tied at 3-3. This meant 3 doubles matches had to be played. The team won 2 of their doubles games to win the tie 5-4 to become Ulster Team Champions.
As a result, the qualify to represent Ulster in the All-Ireland Table Tennis Championships in Dublin in April.
Well done to all those who took part in the Championship.
