{"id":19522,"date":"2025-07-23T15:37:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T14:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/?p=19522"},"modified":"2025-11-24T10:32:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T10:32:42","slug":"cltc-member-david-murphy-at-the-world-parastanding-championships-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/cltc-member-david-murphy-at-the-world-parastanding-championships-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Ireland Shines at World Para-Standing Tennis Events in Barcelona and Turin – by David Murphy (CLTC member)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our team recently returned from an exciting and eventful fortnight of competition across Europe, representing Ireland at the highest level in Para-Standing Tennis (PST). Five of us travelled to Barcelona on June 13th, with the tournament kicking off on the 15th. Michael Beglan and I competed in the PST 1 classification, while Cormac Goodman, Alex Morrogh, and James Naughton took part in PST 2. ( **Scroll down for photos**)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Rough Start \u2013 But Ready to Compete<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our journey didn\u2019t begin smoothly. Flight delays due to severe storms over France meant that Michael didn\u2019t arrive at the hotel until 5:20 a.m. on Saturday morning. As a result, we didn\u2019t get our first hitting session until Saturday afternoon \u2013 right under the blazing Spanish sun. The heat and humidity were a shock to the system, but it gave us a vital opportunity to acclimatise. In hindsight, flying out earlier would\u2019ve given us a better buffer to adjust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong Performances in PST 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In PST 2, both Cormac and Alex played exceptionally well despite a tough draw. They each secured solid wins in the opening round before narrowly losing out in hard-fought second round matches. Cormac also made a strong showing in the doubles alongside his Hungarian partner, Mark. Unfortunately for James, he drew Cormac in the first round of singles \u2013 a tough start for any teammate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Rollercoaster Tournament in PST 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I had the misfortune of drawing a Brazilian clay court specialist \u2013 last year\u2019s finalist \u2013 in my opening match. During the match, I strained my lower back, which required daily physio and hampered me throughout the tournament. Despite the injury, Michael and I made an excellent run in the doubles. We won our first match 6\u20132, 6\u20131, and then stunned the third seeds in the quarterfinals with a dominant 6\u20130, 6\u20131 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the semi-finals, we faced the formidable duo of Alex Hunt and Adam Hills. Although my back limited my movement and serve, we felt optimistic. The first set slipped away 6\u20131 as Hunt delivered a near-flawless performance. However, we rallied in the second to win it 6\u20134. The match came down to a championship tiebreak, and at 7\u20137, Hunt once again produced the goods when it counted. We went down 10\u20137, but it was a fantastic contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Standout Tournament for Michael<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Michael\u2019s singles run in Barcelona was remarkable. After a shaky start in the heat, he grew in confidence with each round, ultimately reaching the final of PST 1 \u2013 a major achievement. He faced the experienced pro Alex Hunt in the final. Michael played an incredible first set, pushing Hunt to the limit and losing just 7\u20135. Though Hunt pulled away in the second, Michael\u2019s performance at just 16 years old was nothing short of extraordinary. He has now firmly established himself as the world\u2019s number 2 ranked player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onto Turin \u2013 More Success and Setbacks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After Barcelona, Michael, Alex Morrogh, and I headed to Turin for the European Open. Alex repeated his strong performance with another first-round win. I unfortunately drew the same opponent as in Barcelona with the same outcome. Michael, once again, stormed through the draw to reach the final, where he met Alex Hunt for the third time and fell just short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our doubles run ended prematurely due to injury and illness. I tore my hamstring during singles \u2013 likely a knock-on from the earlier back issue \u2013 and Michael was dealing with a fever and sore throat. We had to concede the semifinal, but we remain confident in our potential as a team. Earlier in the year we were playing brilliantly together, and though injuries and limited preparation disrupted our campaign, we know we\u2019re capable of going all the way next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Ahead<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite personal disappointments, I\u2019m incredibly proud of what our team accomplished. Watching Cormac and Alex get their first wins at a world championship has clearly motivated them to push harder for next year. The team spirit was phenomenal, and our green jerseys and Irish flags were hard to miss, leaving a lasting impression on everyone at the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next phase for us is to expand the para-standing player base in Ireland. With more regional events and coaching sessions planned, I\u2019m confident we\u2019ll discover new talent and grow the sport even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support \u2013 it means the world to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 David<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to read about out the Inaugral Anglo-Hiberian Club 2025.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Click here<\/a> to watch a short clip from a Netflix documentary about Parastanding Tennis, its amazing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our team recently returned from an exciting and eventful fortnight of competition across Europe, representing Ireland at the highest level in Para-Standing Tennis (PST). Five of us travelled to Barcelona […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":21107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clubinfo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19522"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21387,"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19522\/revisions\/21387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cltc.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}