Ballymoney finish in third place

Ballymoney completed their 09/10 campaign in the Belfast league with a 6-4 away defeat to Belfast team Glenburn.

This gave the Ballymoney team four points and guaranteed a third place finish in the top flight of Ulster table tennis.

Pawet Sulkowski was unavailable so it was the popular sportsman John Fall to step forward into the frye. John played well all night but lacked his usual cutting edge and lost his three matches to the experienced trio of Brian McRandall, Willie Cherry and Norman Nabney.

Man of the match for Ballymoney was Dawid Sulkowski who won two singles but was outwitted by former Ulster No 1 McRandall in three straight sets.

Mark McGuiggan fresh from the Cardiff GP and the Irish Nationals in Dublin could only add 1 singles win against Nabney but combined well with Dawid Sulkowski to clinch the doubles.

The individual tournament for the league takes place on 24th March and both Mark and Dawid will be competing for honours.

Ballyclare League

Ballymoney B played out another 6-4 defeat in Division 2 against high flying Knockagh B. Team captain Paul McGuiggan won his two singles with his usual determined spirit. Mark Lynn also added 2 singles to remain undefeated in this division. Mark will certainly be stepping up to the Premier league next season after his fantastic run of wins. Aaron Douglas and Ruth McGilligan just failed to clinch a win and surprisingly the Ballymoney team also failed in both doubles to be on the losing end yet again.

Better news in Division 4 as Ballymoney C recorded yet another win against Academy Nuggetts. The score was 10-0 against the younger opponents from Ballymena. David Peden’s team have progressed throughout the campaign and this win all but seals the Division 4 title.

Irish National Championships

Mark McGuiggan travelled to Dublin to compete in the Irish Nationals. Mark finished second in the group stages losing out to Cork junior Declan O’Brien 3-0. before losing out in the last32. However Mark had one of the best wins of his career in the U21 event taking out Irish No 15 Mark O’Flynn 3-0 in the group stages before reaching the quarter finals and losing to Gavin Maguire from Dublin 3-1.

Paul McCreery from Crossgar reached the final only to lose out to John Murphy from Dublin by three sets to one. In the ladies event it was Ashey Givan from Dungannon who became the youngest ever winner at just 14 years of age.

Open night

Ballymoney Table Tennis club will be holding an Open night on Wednesday 7 April at the club’s premises in the basement of the Methodist church in Seymour Street, Ballymoney. All new players, young or old, are welcome to come along and try the sport. The session will run between 7.00pm and 9.00pm.