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Local athletes attending Blackpool 4 Star Junior Tournament…
A host of talented young table tennis players will be attending the Blackpool 4 Star Junior Tournament this weekend all hoping to bat for success and bring some trophies back from the tournament. Among the young Ulster players are Sport Northern Ireland funded athletes Claire Nelson and Paul McCreery.
Claire took up the sport at the age of eight by joining the table tennis club in Primary five at Lisnasharragh Primary School where she was coached by Jing Yi Gao, which resulted in her joining her current club, Glenburn. To date Claire has represented Ulster at Junior Inter-Provincial Championships for six successive years; won gold at the British Primary Schools Championships, Blackburn 2003 (singles and team event); came runner-up at Roskilde Junior Open in Denmark 2003; won team gold at the International Youth Cup, Belgium 2005; was ranked one in Ulster and Ireland Under 14 and Under 17’s in 2005/06 season and is currently ranked three in the Irish Senior Ladies. Most recently, Claire attended the City of Liverpool Grand Prix Tournament on 22 August and reached the quarter finals of Band 1 Ladies and won the Ladies under 21’s. At the beginning of this month she took part in the Irish Senior Classification and finished third.
Claire in action
Claire has been selected in the Great Britain Talented ID Squad for the London 2012 Olympics and has her sights set on more success for the future, “I am hoping to progress to the next group of the London 2012 Olympic Squad; this is the Development Squad and hope to represent Northern Ireland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India”. For the last four years Claire has been selected and attended training camps in China, three years in Tianjin and this year in Shenyang. In Shenyang Claire trained along side 2000 Olympic double champion Wang Nan and current world champion Guo Yue, both of whom are in the Chinese National Squad.
Paul first got involved in table tennis at the age of eight at Inchmarlo (my primary school). His teacher, Malcolm Guy who was running table tennis coaching classes after school encouraged him to take part and he really enjoyed it and has continued to play since.
Through participation in table tennis Paul has traveled widely and gained confidence and independence, competing in many European countries in addition to India and China. This year Paul won both the Cadet and under 17 Junior boys Irish titles in Dublin, and traveled to Bratislava in July to represent Ireland in the European Junior Championships. In May he went to Jaipur, India to play for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Senior Championships and recently he won the U 21 Men’s title at the Liverpool Open in August.
Paul in action
Like Claire, Paul has also been selected in the Great Britain Talented ID Squad for the London 2012 Olympics and for the last four years has also attended training camps in China. Speaking on being a part of this squad Paul said, “I am really enjoying the challenge of playing and training with the best junior players in the United Kingdom and keeping my place in their Elite Squad for the 2012 Olympic Games. I am very pleased with the help and support l have received from my coach Jing Yi, my teachers at Inst, who have been very helpful with the time off l need to train and for the funding I have received from Sport Northern Ireland. The funding l have received from Sport Northern Ireland has been vital to let me travel widely to compete with the best players in the sport, helping me to improve my game”.
Other talented young players from Ulster attending the tournament include Ashley Robinson, Stephen Slater, Joathan O’Brien, Neil Irwin and Ashley Givan. |
