Mark O'Flynn played excellently on his debut for Ireland at the International Youth Cup in Hasselt over the weekend of May 18/19. He won 8 singles including two in a friendly with Wales. He also had a good win over the Danish number One Under 12.
Sean Givernaud was also in Hasselt with the Under 17 team and he won 12 singles including some good wins against the French. He made his way from France and returned home with the team to bring to an end his year long Odyssey in France.We hope to bring you an exclusive on Sean's stay in France soon.
Mark was part of a team that included Niall MCDonnell and Patrick Guy. Unfortunately their best chance of winning a match was against Belgian Flanders when Mark won two but the others couldn't manage one or two more to secure the draw or win.
In the singles both Mark and Niall won their groups but failed to progress any further. Both then went to the Consolation where Mark was very unlucky not to make the quarter finals after an epic battle with a good Dutch player in which Mark was 2-1 down but came back to lead 9-4 in the fifth only to lose in a tense finish.
This was a great learning experience and with Mark being still the right age to play in this age group next year it bodes well for the future.