England won 26 medals – 15 of them gold – at the Home Countries Veterans’ Table Tennis Championships in Dublin.
No fewer than nine England players won two golds at the tournament, which feature Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Guernsey and Isle of Man, as well as England.
There were six English golds in the team competitions, including both men’s and women’s O50s – Ritchie Venner and Andy Trott took the men’s and Emma Harradine and Miche Reeves the women’s, the latter ahead of compatriots Jane Vickers and Di St Ledger, who won silver.
In the O40s, Wanda Lytynska-Sydorenko and Hurey Ahmetoglu won the women’s event, with a bronze going to Julie Byrne and Tumay Ekrem. Andy Wilkinson and Jason Ramage took silver in the men’s, behind the Irish line-up of Daryl Strong, Rory Scott and Phil Wallace.
The O60s Mixed event saw England’s Diccon Gray, Steve Brunskill and Sandra Rider (pictured above) win the gold.
There were also golds for Brian Reeves and Steve Kosmowsky in the men’s O70s and Johnny Clarke and Stuart Seaholme in the men’s O75s.
In the doubles competitions, Harradine & Miche Reeves won their second golds by taking the O50s women’s class, and it was also a second gold for Gray & Brunskill in the O60s men.
Ramage & Wilkinson went one better than they had in the team by claiming gold in the men’s O40s.
The O60s women’s was won by Jane Vickers & Di St Ledger, upgrading their silver from the team competitions, as they beat Rider & Susie Venner in the final.
As well as Rider & Venner, there was a silver for Ahmetoglu & Byrne in the O40s women’s doubles.
The singles saw Ahmetoglu (women’s O40), Ramage (men’s O50), Lytynska-Sydorenko (women’s O50), Vickers (women’s O60) and Seaholme (men’s O75) all win their second golds of the competition.
There were also silvers for Wilkinson (men’s O40), Byrne (women’s O40), Miche Reeves (women’s O50), Gray (men’s O60), St Ledger (women’s O60) and Kosmowsky (men’s O70).