JENNIFER THOMPSON and Andrew Dennison look to defend their national table tennis titles at the Galway sports centre this weekend where all but one of the locally based players will be attempting to impress the Irish selectors.

Michelle McGreevy currently heads the domestic ranking list, but misses the championships through illness. In her absence, Athlone's Brioni Lane and Tara Bollard from Dublin will pose the main threats to title holder Thompson.

Jonathan Cowan, meanwhile, returns from Scotland to join Sean Spelman and a couple of the leading juniors in the hunt for the men's title, although none of the country's German based trio, which includes leading player Colum Slevin, will be in action.

The tournament will be one of the last opportunities for players to prove themselves ahead of the team selection for the European Championships in Slovakia at the end of April. Slevin, as well as Ger Boyle and Hilton Menneely, will be eligible to be selected for the trip to Bratislava.