IC Rod Laver U16 Junior Challenge

The Rod Laver European Tennis IC U16 was a privilege to be part of. I was very proud to have had the privilege to manage our U16 national Irish team, who consisted of the top two girls and boys U16 in Ireland. 
Julianna Carton and Aisling O’Connor represented the girls. Arthur O’ Sullivan and Freddy Murray represented the boys. 

The teams included : Spain , Italy , Austria, Great Britain , Ireland , Slovenia , Israel and Germany 

This Irish team did exceptionally well, defeating Germany , the home nation on the first day 4-2. On day two , we faced a very tough Italian team losing narrowly on two championships tie breaks at girls No.1 singles and the girls doubles. We lost that tie 2-4.
On day three, we faced Great Britain. This was an epic match, where it went right down to the wire at 3 matches all. The tie was decided on a ten point championship tie breaker of mixed doubles. Aisling O Connor and Arthur O Sullivan teamed up together to win the tie 10-4 in the championship tie breaker. This meant we finished up in 2nd place in our group (Great Britain, Italy & Germany) 
Day 4 was our final day, and we faced Slovenia who also finished second in their group (Spain , Israel & Austria.We completed the week with another victory over the Slovenian team 4-2. 

Our overall position was 3 and ITALY defeated Israel in the final to confirm their place at the World group in San Diego.

John McGahon Ireland Captain