Table tennis stars shine in Trinity | Kayrin Ong

The UCC Table Tennis Team travelled to Trinity College, Dublin on the final weekend of February for the annual Intervarsities championship. With a spirited team of seven men and four ladies, they were determined to create some waves in Dublin.In the team events on Saturday, the men's team put on a great performance, cruising through their group stages and right into the semi-finals. Unfortunately, they were drawn against a very strong UCD team in the semis and had to settle for third position. However, it is a great achievement considering it is the first Intervarsity for half of the players on the team. As for the ladies' team events, UCC retained their position as runner-up behind UCD after a few very closely fought matches going into fifth sets and deuce points.The individual event on Sunday was a time for our players to shine and they certainly did not disappoint. In the men's individual events, most of our players advanced through their group stages and into the last 32. Alex Cooney, UCC's #1, sailed through to the Men's Finals. There were a couple of brilliant shots and rallies in his games but it was Will Gallagher who took the title in the end. The ladies were performing very well in their individual games too. Three of them, Xie Chen, Xie Huizhuang and Kayrin Ong featured in the semi-finals. In the ladies' final, Xie Chen got off to a great start, taking the first set lead. However UCD's Sarah Timlin made a comeback and defended her title from last year.All in all, it was a wonderful weekend with some excellent results. UCC’s table tennis stars certainly look promising and are looking forward to an even better Intervarsity outing next year.