IRELAND'S men, inspired by veteran Colum Slevin, won their opening group match when the 44th World Table Tennis championships began at Manchester yesterday.

Slevin, who has played seven previous championships since 1981, won both his singles as Ireland beat Iceland 3-1 in the Category Two Group G match.

Ireland, who are expected to finish second in their group to Turkey, made an encouraging start with Slevin, the 32 year old Dublin player, first beating Kjartan Briem 21-8 11-21 21-10 in the opening contest and then defeating Guomundur Stephensen 21-14 21-13 to gain the clinching point.