The Eastpoint cadet team of Shane Foster, Gavin Maguire and Andy Holohan took on the Norwegians at the Norges Cup in Kongsvinger last week. It was a great experience for these players playing against good opposition in the tournament and training during the week with the Norwegian and Irish squad under the direction of Norwegian coach Jan Bergerson.
The training took place in the Oslo club B72 and was excellent.the whole group moved off to Kongsvinger on Friday. It was about a 2 hour journey and the accommodation in the hall was not the best but all the players made the most of it. The Norges cup took place on Saturday and Sunday.
All the players competed well with some very exciting matches. Shane and Andy reached the last 16 of the under 14s with Shane being unlucky not to make the quarters when he was 2 sets to nil up against the highly rated Ahmed Chaar before losing deuce in the fifth. In 13 boys singles Gavin had an exciting match with David Karlsson of Sweden coming back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 before losing out in the fifth.
Mark O'Flynn was representing Ireland at the event and aquitted himself very well with a good run in the Under 13 singles where he reached the Semi Final. He had good wins against a Swede in the last 16 before playing very well to overcome Eric Lindmae from Estonia in the Quarter Final. He went down 3-1 in the semi to Kristian Kvaale in a spirited match.
Overall it was a good if tiring event and one seriously worth repeating.