Top seeds in the Under 19 Boys Singles Event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö have safely advanced to the round of 32. Iulian CHIRITA of Romania his teammates Darius MOVILEANU and Andrei ISTRATE and Germany’s Andre BERTELSMEIER all secured third-round victories. However No. 6 seed Dragos BUJOR of Romania faced an early exit. The home crowd was delighted by the play of William BERGENBLOCK who booked his place in the next round. Chirita defeated Czech’s Petr HODINA of Austria (13 -8 7 9 7). MOVILEANU needed one game less to secure victory over Hakan ISIK of Türkiye (8 5 5 7). ISTRATE also concluded his match against Jakub GOLDIR of Slovakia in four games (1 8 4 8). No. 4 seed BERTELSMEIER prevailed against Khai Noah LAM of Norway after losing the opening game (9 -8 8 9 7). Romania’s lineup was reduced as Dragos BUJOR lost to Sweden’s William BERGENBLOCK 4-2 (7 -9 8 3 -6 3). This was good news for the hosts since the second round already saw the departure of the best-seeded Swedish player Isak ALFREDSSON who lost to Benjamin PIGGOTT of England 4-2 (-10 8 8 -4 9 10). In the same round Itay AVIVI of Israel dealt another blow to the home supporters by beating Elias SJOGREN 4-1 (-10 10 7 12 4). William BERGENBLOCK expressed his satisfaction with his performance:”I think I played really well. I kept my tactics the whole match and could come to an attack as I wished. I’m really pleased with the win.” In the third round David SZANTOSI of Hungary beat David BJORKRYD but not before the Swede put the No. 7 seed under severe pressure in a seven-game battle (1 8 -4 -9 16 -6 9). Alessi MASSART of Belgium overcame Germany’s Lleyton ULLMANN in a narrow seven games (8 6 -9 8 -6 -9 12).

The biggest upset in the round of 64 at the Under 19 Girls Singles Event was created by Elinor DAVIDOV who halted the progress of top seed Mia GRIESEL at the European Youth Championships in Malmö. DAVIDOV seeded 71st prevailed in a thrilling seven-game match (10 11 9 -5 -7 -6 7). DAVIDOV was up three games before GRIESEL leveled but DAVIDOV proved to have better nerves in the decisive game. “It is amazing and I am so happy now. I knew I had to play at my best and that no matter what I had to retain my focus. I was already prepared that it was not going to be an easy match and that I had to push myself to the limits ” said DAVIDOV. In her four previous appearances DAVIDOV did not manage to achieve such an important win. Her progress to the round of 32 and victory over the top seed marks her greatest result so far. “This is my second year in juniors; last year I passed the group and then lost in the opening round ” said DAVIDOV who added that playing abroad in Portugal’s league brought her extra experience and self-confidence. In the next round she will meet Miriam CARNOVALE of Italy who overcame Lukrecija JUCHNAITE of Lithuania (6 5 -9 9 -8 6). The favorites continued to stumble with No. 8 seed Agathe AVEZOU of France losing against Germany’s Lorena MORSCH 4-1 (7 6 7 -3 9). No. 10 seed Nicole ARLIA of Italy is also out losing to Spanish Camila MOSCOSO in another long-distance duel. Xijin ZHENG of the Netherlands overcame Agnes SVENSSON of Sweden 4-1 (7 7 -3 5 8) in the second round which saw the departure of all host nation representatives in the Girls Under 19 singles. However ZHENG failed to stay in the game after losing to Fanny DOUTAZ of Switzerland (8 9 7 5). One of the Round 2 upsets was created by Christine KALVATN of Norway who overcame Spain’s Eugenia SASTRE 4-2 (7 8 -9 8 -6 4) but she also failed to prolong her stay to the penultimate day. Zrinka REBIC of Croatia secured her place in the Round of 32 (6 7 6 -8 10).

The Under 15 Boys Singles Event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö featured intense battles and several upsets in the round of 64. Top-seeded Patryk ZYWRONEK of Poland defeated Denmark’s Marcus AHRENHOLT JENSEN in straight games (5 7 7 4). No. 2 seed Robert ISTRATE of Romania beat Italy’s Erik PAULINA (-5 7 6 6 5). Nazar MATSKO (AIN) stirred the seedings by defeating Portugal’s Carlos GONÇALVES in seven games (4:3) but lost to Kenan KAHARMAN in the next round (6 -7 10 9 9). Türkiye’s players Kenan KAHARMAN Berk OZOTOPRAK Görkem ÖÇAL and Mustafa NEBHAN showed their solid form by all advancing to the next round. Germany’s Alexander UHING progressed to the round of 32 but Onur GULUZADE of Azerbaijan put him under severe pressure. The duel went the full distance with ONUR managing to level the match after being 3-1 down. However in the decisive game Germany’s player won 11-9 (9 -8 8 12 -8 -6 9). Portugal’s Denis YE overcame Jan MRUGALA of Poland in another long-distance duel (9 12 9 -9 -7 -4 8). Dario SALCEDO of Spain joined the players who progressed to the penultimate day of the Championships by beating Germany’s Lukas WANG in seven games (8 -6 7 4 -6 -7 7). Romania’s Mihai NAGY is also out having suffered at the hands of Miroslav SCHMIDT of Bulgaria 4-3 (-8 -2 1 -5 4 12 7).

At the European Youth Championships in Malmö top seed Hanka KODETOVA advanced easily in the Under 15 Girls Singles event due to the injury of Scotland’s Kiishi ADEKOLA. She will face Germany’s Elisa NGUYEN in the next round. However the third round saw the departure of sixth seed Nora DOHOCZKI of Hungary who lost to Poland’s Emilia TWARDAWA in straight games (10 11 7 9). Hungary found some consolation with Johanna PETERY overcoming France’s Lisa ZHAO to move to the Round of 32 winning 4-1 (-8 8 8 5 9). Varvara ZAITSAVA (AIN) created an upset by beating Bulgaria’s Nina NIKOLOVA in a full seven games (6 -5 -9 -4 9 7 6) but narrowly missed another surprise against Germany’s Lisa-Sophie WANG losing in a close seven-game match (8 -8 8 -8 7 -11 8). Simona HOLUBOVA of Czechia seeded 23rd exited earlier than expected losing to Lithuania’s Deimante ADLYTE in five games (2 -8 10 7 3). Enya HU of Switzerland was defeated by Portugal’s Joana PINTO in straight games (9 13 8 9).

The opening rounds of the doubles events at the European Youth Championships in Malmö saw top seeds progressing smoothly in both the Under 19 Boys’ and Girls’ categories although not all higher-ranked pairs avoided early exits. In the Junior Boys’ doubles Romania’s top seeds Iulian CHIRITA and Andrei ISTRATE needed four games to overcome Nazarii SOLODKYI (Ukraine) and Adil AHMADZADA (Azerbaijan). Romania’s Darius MOVILEANU and Dragos BUJOR also prevailed against Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Dario PEJIC and Aron KANLIĆ. Poland’s Mateusz ZALEWSKI and Croatia’s Borna PETEK defeated Ivan KAHN and Brent RONDE of the Netherlands. The German-Spanish clash ended with Germany’s Andre BERTELSMEIER and Wim VERDONSCHOT beating Francesc CARRERA and Francesc KHIDASHELI. An upset occurred when Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Benjamin ZIJADIC and Serbia’s Andras OROS seeded 61st defeated Hungary’s 10th seeds David SZANTOSI and Botond ZOLTAN VARGA in four games. In the Junior Girls’ doubles Germany’s Mia GRIESEL and Romania’s Bianca MEI ROSU the top seeds easily defeated Scotland’s Shannon BROWN and Ireland’s Anjali SINGH. No. 2 seeds Zuzanna WIELGOS and Anna BRZYSKA overcame Serbia’s Jana HAVELA and Teodora GOJKOV 3-1. French pair Clea DE STOPPELEIRE and Agathe AVEZOU seeded third progressed in straight games against Slovenia’s Lana SLATINSEK and Ema CRNKOVIČ. Poland’s Natalia BOGDANOWICZ and France’s Elise PUJOL beat Denmark’s Emma My-Linh ECKEROTH and Sofie Khanh-Linh ECKEROTH in four games. Ukraine’s Veronika VASYLENKO and Alina OVRIAKH created an upset by defeating Bulgaria’s Tsvetelina GEORGIEVA and Sidelya MUTLU in a full five-game match. Moldova’s Camelia MERENCO and Alexandra CHIRIACOVA also won a five-game duel against Spain’s Eugenia SASTRE and Italy’s Miriam CARNOVALE.

  Final Result Team Event EYC 2024         U19B U19G U15B U15G     Level 1 1   ROMANIA 1   FRANCE 1   ITALY 1   GERMANY       2   GERMANY 2   ROMANIA 2   ROMANIA 2   POLAND       3   FRANCE 3   POLAND 3   CZECHIA 3   PORTUGAL       3   SLOVAKIA 3   GERMANY 3   TÜRKIYE 3   CZECHIA       5   POLAND 5   SLOVAKIA 5   POLAND 5   SPAIN       5   ITALY 5   CZECHIA 5   FRANCE 5   FRANCE       7   HUNGARY 7   SPAIN 7   ENGLAND 7   AUSTRIA       7   CROATIA 7   PORTUGAL 7   GERMANY 7   CROATIA       9   NETHERLANDS 9   HUNGARY 9   SPAIN 9   ROMANIA       9   PORTUGAL 9   BULGARIA 9   SWITZERLAND 9   HUNGARY       11   CZECHIA 11   UKRAINE 11   PORTUGAL 11   SWEDEN       11   SPAIN 11   ITALY 11   HUNGARY 11   SLOVAKIA       13   AUSTRIA 13   BELGIUM 13   SWEDEN 13   BELGIUM       13   SWEDEN 13   TÜRKIYE 13   BELGIUM 13   MOLDOVA       15   ISRAEL 15   CROATIA 15   AUSTRIA 15   TÜRKIYE       16   SLOVENIA 16   DENMARK 16   GREECE 16   SERBIA     Level 2 17   BELGIUM 17   AUSTRIA 17   UKRAINE 17   ITALY       18   TÜRKIYE 18   LITHUANIA 18   ISRAEL 18   SWITZERLAND       19   GREECE 19   MOLDOVA 19   CROATIA 19   GREECE       19   SWITZERLAND 20   ISRAEL 19   LUXEMBOURG 20   AZERBAIJAN       21   BULGARIA 21   LUXEMBOURG 21   BULGARIA 21   UKRAINE       21   NORWAY 22   SLOVENIA 21   SLOVENIA 22   ESTONIA       23   UKRAINE 23   ENGLAND 23   SLOVAKIA 23   BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA       23   ENGLAND 24   SWEDEN 23   MOLDOVA 24   LATVIA       25   LUXEMBOURG 25   ESTONIA 25   AZERBAIJAN 25   SLOVENIA       25   FINLAND 26   NETHERLANDS 25   DENMARK 26   DENMARK       27  

The ETTU Young Umpires Project which began last year in Gliwice continues to thrive. During the European Youth Championships 24 young umpires received training and attended workshops. Following the event a mentorship program was initiated to ensure the ongoing development of these young match officials. Four Gold Badge Umpires shared their expertise through online sessions and at events mentoring young umpires from 10 different associations. Now in Malmö this inaugural program is concluding with many of the trained umpires officiating at the European Youth Championships. Sweden has proven to be an ideal host for fostering the growth of young match officials with 22 interested umpires attending the first session about the ETTU Young Umpires Project all eager to join the new mentorship program for 2024/2025. “It is excellent to continue the program for the next period until 2025 and to start especially here in Sweden. The Swedish Association is putting a lot of effort into developing their match officials and ETTU also continues this successful project which started in Poland last year. After one year we can state that 50% of all participants in the mentorship program 2023/2024 have already reached the next level on the umpire career pathway and we will see some of them in the International Umpire Exam 2024. Thanks to Kerstin DUCHATZ Ingrid BOGREN Pol PIERRET and Mark BECKMANN for sharing their experience in the mentorship program and to Asko RASINEN for coordinating the project. Let us start the next activities for our young umpires ” said ETTU URC Chair Werner THURY.

Italy is the newly crowned champion in the Under 15 Boys event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö marking their fifth gold at the 66th edition of the event. In the final they overcame Romania while Czechia and Türkiye secured bronze. In the final Danilo FASO defeated Mihai NAGY and Robert Alexandru ISTRATE. Although ISTRATE managed to beat Francesco TREVISAN the Italian pair prevailed against Romania’s duo. “I feel amazing. It’s very good for us to win this European with the team we had. We really fought well together because we’re also very good friends. So I’m very happy for this tournament and this win. Very very happy ” said FASO who won all his matches. “Yeah this is a very good feeling. I managed to play at my best level we can say. Also it was good for my mentality because the second game tonight against Istrate was difficult for me. It was very good to win it at 18-16 and then the other one was easy. I was focused and played my best.” Teams: Romania: Robert Alexandru ISTRATE Mihai NAGY Matei Gabriel EPARU Italy: Danilo FASO Francesco TREVISAN Giulio CAMPAGNA Erik PAULINA Bronze Medalists: Czechia: Jan SKALDA Jakub KABELKA Ondrej MORAVEK Filip RACAK. Türkiye: Görkem ÖÇAL Kenan KAHRAMAN Mustafa NEBHAN Berk OZTOPRAK. Final Under 15 boys teams event Italy – Romania 3-1 Danilo FASO – Mihai NAGY 3-0 (11-7 11-9 11-4) Francesco TREVISAN – Robert Alexandru ISTRATE 1-3 (2-11 4-11 11-9 6-11) Danilo FASO Francesco TREVISAN – Robert Alexandru ISTRATE Mihai NAGY 3-1 (11-5 5-11 11-4 11-9) Danilo FASO – Robert Alexandru ISTRATE 3-0 (11-5 18-16 11-3)  

Germany defended their title in the Under 15 Girls Team’s event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö securing their 26th title in the history of the EYC. In the final they overcame Poland while Portugal and Czechia won bronze. Koharu ITAGAKI maintained her unbeaten status in singles though she experienced her first loss in doubles in Sweden 2024. Itagaki defeated both Maja LAKOMA and Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA while Lisa-Sophie WANG also prevailed against RAJKOWSKA. In doubles ITAGAKI partnered with Josephina NEUMANN but they lost to the Polish pair. “I’m really happy now! We won last year also in teams but this year was different. It’s not easy to win and we are really happy about the victory. My first match was good but in the last one I was really really nervous. It was a tough match that I could have lost because the score was 18-16 11-9 11-9 for me. I’m happy that I did it ” said ITAGAKI. When asked about their celebration plans Koharu replied “We won’t celebrate too much because we have Mixed Doubles tomorrow morning.” The complete list of players in Team Germany includes Koharu ITAGAKI Lisa-Sophie WANG Josephina NEUMANN and Elisa NGUYEN. Team Poland comprised Maja LAKOMA Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA Wanessa KULCZYCKA and Emilia TWARDAWA. Team Portugal consisted of Beatriz PINTO Julia LEAL and Joana PINTO while Czechia was represented by Simona HOLUBOVA Hanka KODETOVA and Adela BRHELOVA. Final Under 15 Girls teams event Germany – Poland 3-1 Koharu ITAGAKI – Maja LAKOMA 3-0 (11-8 11-7 11-2) Lisa-Sophie WANG – Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA 3-0 (11-2 11-5 11-3) Koharu ITAGAKI Josephina NEUMANN – Maja LAKOMA Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA 0-3 (9-11 7-11 5-11) Koharu ITAGAKI – Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA 3-0 (18-16 11-9 11-9)

Romania defended their title in the Under 19 Boys Teams event at the European Youth Championships in Malmö. This victory marks their third consecutive gold in this event and their 34th overall in the 66-year history of the EYC. In the final they overcame Germany in straight matches while France and Slovakia secured the bronze medals. From last year’s winning team Eduard IONESCU was absent but Iulian CHIRITA took over the role of leader proving his capability by remaining unbeaten throughout the entire championships so far. Germany took a risk with their lineup but it didn’t pay off. Andre BERTELSMEIER opened the match against CHIRITA who won in four games. Andrei ISTRATE then overcame Wim VERDONSCHOT 3-1 before Darius MOVILEANU needed one game less to defeat Lleyton ULLMANN. “I feel very happy that we won the Under 19 boys team title for the third time in a row together with my teammates. We’ve been the same team for three years and I’m happy that we managed to win again. It was a little bit hard at the beginning but we managed to play better and better. I think the key to this match was Germany changing BERTELSMEIER to the second position so I played him in the first match and could win. I’m very happy that all my teammates played very well “ said CHIRITA. CHIRITA’S personal record is equally impressive: “For 3 years in a row I did not lose in team’s at the European Championships. I hope I will not lose next year either. This gives me much confidence for the singles event so I hope I will continue to play better and better.“ In addition to Iulian CHIRITA the Romanian team included Andrei ISTRATE Darius MOVILEANU and Dragos BUJOR. Germany’s complete list of players included Andre BERTELSMEIER Wim VERDONSCHOT Manuel PROHASKA Matej HASPEL and Lleyton ULLMANN. The bronze medalists from France were Flavien COTON Nathan LAM Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT and Celian BESNIER. Slovakia’s team included Samuel PALUSEK Samuel ARPAS Damian FLORO and Jakub GOLDIR. Final Under 19 boys teams event Romania – Germany 3-0 Iulian CHIRITA – Andre BERTELSMEIER 3-1 (11-4 8-11 11-6 13-11) Andrei ISTRATE – Wim VERDONSCHOT 3-1 (11-6 11-5 2-11 11-5) Darius MOVILEANU – Lleyton ULLMANN 3-0 (11-5 11-7 11-4)