The English Table Tennis Association

Tees Sport Liverpool Grand Prix Day 1

19th August 2012

It was a successful day for the non-English at the Tees Sport City of Liverpool Grand prix.

Megan Phillips came out on top in the new format Women’s Band 1 singles. She beat Yolanda King 3-2 in a topsy-turvy final that saw both players take an end 11-1. Kate Hughes and Angharad Phillips were the unlucky semi-finalists.

The Men’s Band 1 singles title was one of few that stayed in England. Michael O’Driscoll beat Scotland’s Chris Main, while Kevin Dolder over came the highflying Danny Lawrence in the other side of the draw. In the final it was Michael that took the early lead and followed it up to take it three sets to one.

Danny Lawrence continued his run in the Men’s Band 2 singles. He beat Jared Knowles and Declan O’Brien to reach the final stage. In the top half of the draw, Adam Harrison beat the returning Louis Rosenthal 3-0 and Jonathan Taylor 3-1 to meet Danny for a second time in the day. After a close first game, Danny closed out the match 3-0.

The Women’s Band 2 singles title was one of the first to make its way back to Ireland. Adel O’Reilly came off the better in the all Ireland quarter-final against Sarah Timlin before defeating Scotland’s Lucy Elliot to book her place in the final. Corinna Whitaker joined Adel in the final after beating Kate Hughes in a marathon five set match. The final was another marathon effort with 3 points being the biggest winning margin. The title finally went to Adel 11-9 in the fifth set.

Declan O’Brien continued the Irish success in the Men’s Band 3 event. Declan beat the ever improving Luke Savill in his quarter-final before advancing past Shaun Murray. In the other half of the draw Matthew Man was battling back from the runner up position in his group, having to come through tests with Adam Feargrieve, Jared Knowles and Mark O’Flynn. After sharing the first two sets of the final, Declan took the next two games 11-8, to seal Irelands second title of the weekend.

Ireland looked to maintain their success in the Women’s Band 3 singles event. Katie McGlone came from behind to win a five set battle against Paulina Orzechowska, before dispatching Gosia Muda 3-0. In the other half of the draw Lucy Zhu had her own five set battle against Nicole Finn before beating Zoe Cheesmen. The luck of the Irish wasn’t with Katie this time as she fell 3-0 to the youngster Lucy Zhu.

The Men’s Band 4 semi-final line-up saw Scotland’s Blair Fowler face Kent’s Luke Savill. Blair took an early 2-0 lead before Luke completed an impressive turn around to reach the final. The other semi-final saw Carlo Agnello of Belgium come against Alec Ward, a match which Carlo won. In the final little Luke took the early lead only to be pegged back and beaten 3-2.

In the Men’s Band 5 singles Ian Brown beat Jack Mills and Osman Yildirim beat Chris Londesborough to meet each other in the semi-finals of the top half of the draw. Ian Brown quickly established a 2-0 lead before Turkeys Osman completed an impressive double turn around after leading and then coming from behind again in the fifth set. The second semi-final was an all Irish affair between Kieran Reilly and Tobias Wolff, a match that Kieran survived. In the final Osman came through in a relatively comfortable three sets to take the title.

In the Men’s Band 6 Osman Yildirim completed his “Turkish Delight” at the hands of another Irish man Tobias Wolff. En-route to the final Osman beat Ian Brown for a second time and then Ken Read in the semi-finals. Tobias Wolff came through two matches that went al the way. First was Kris Foster and second was Colin Murphy.

Can England strike back tomorrow or will it be more success for the other countries? Follow us on twitter and keep up with the pictures on the ETTA Facebook page for all of the days shocks, big results and drama as it unfolds.

Men’s Band 1

Michael O’Driscoll (He) bt Kevin Dolder (La): 7, -10, 3, 4.

Men’s Band 2

Danny Lawrence (K) bt Adam Harrison (Li): 11, 7, 8.

Men’s Band 3

Declan O’Brien (IRL) bt Matthew Man (Wa): 3, -3, 8, 8.

Men’s Band 4

Carlo Agnello (BEL) bt Luke Savill (K): -9, 9, 9, -6, 3.

Men’s Band 5

Osman Yildirim (TUR) bt Kieran Reilly (IRL): 6, 5, 3.

Men’s Band 6

Osman Yildirim (TUR) bt Tobias Wolff (IRL): -7, 5, 3, -7, 8.

Women’s Band 1

Megan Phillips (WAL) bt Yolanda King (Sx): -1, 7, 1, -13, 7.

Women’s Band 2

Adel O’Reilly (IRL) bt Corinna Whitaker (SCO): -8, 9, 13, -9, 9.

Women’s Band 3

Lucy Zhu (Sk) bt Katie McGlone (IRL): 5, 9, 4