Already on the opening day of the 2025 European Youth Championships in Ostrava, fierce battles and surprising upsets marked the Team Events.
In the Under 19 Junior Event, Czechia, backed by loud cheering and drums inside the Torax Arena, overturned the rankings by defeating the top-seeded team in Group D, Spain. Led by Štěpán BRHEL, who recorded two wins against Francesc CARRERA and Daniel BERZOSA, the host team triumphed in a thrilling five-match encounter. The Czech team trailed 1–2 after Martin ŠIP lost to BERZOSA and Jindřich MORÁVEK fell to Luca KHIDASHELI. However, BRHEL overcame BERZOSA, and ŠIP sealed the duel with a win over CARRERA.
BRHEL played excellently against Spain. He overcame several difficult moments in his match against Francesc CARRERA and always managed to regain composure. In the third set, for example, he led 9:2 but eventually won it 13:11. He later admitted that the match was all about mental strength.
“That’s exactly it. It wasn’t easy. We knew that Spain’s strength lies in their number one player, so if we wanted to win, we had to beat CARRERA. It was all about staying focused. Concentration – and probably something else, but I don’t know what right now. It was difficult, but that was the key to success,” he said after the match, his hoarse voice reflecting the intensity and team spirit. “Yeah, yeah, it reminds me of the team atmosphere at the championship in Gliwice. We’re a great bunch, and we really support each other.”
For the top-seeded team France, the journey was smooth. Nathan LAM, Nathan PILARD, and Antoine Jean NOIRAULT defeated Germany’s Lleyton ULLMAN, Alexander UHING, and Matej HASPEL 3–1.
“We’re really happy to win against Germany because it’s a really strong team, and we knew it would be a tough start to the European Championships – everyone here plays really well. My teammates performed great, all of them. In my final match against ULLMAN, I won 3-0, but at the beginning, I knew it would be difficult because he’s a very good player. In the last game, it was a little strange – I was leading 5:1, and suddenly it was 5:8, so I was quite surprised. He changed his tactic, and I had to adapt mine as well. That helped me win the set and the match,” said LAM, the reigning French junior champion.
In Group B, Austria emerged victorious in their duel against Croatia. Despite being seeded only fourth, Julian RZIHAUSCHEK, Petr HODINA, and Tobias HOLD secured a straight-matches win.
In the Under 15 category, top-seeded Italy had to go the full distance against Switzerland. Lowis VOGLER proved too strong for both Giulio CAMPAGNA and Francesco TREVISAN and narrowly lost in the doubles, partnering Elias-Mate SIMO. However, CAMPAGNA defeated SIMO in the deciding match.
Türkiye and Sweden secured straight-match victories in their encounters against Spain and Austria, respectively. In contrast, the top-seeded team in Group C, Hungary, failed to justify their ranking and lost to France.
The biggest drama unfolded in Group D, where top seeds England had to battle through five long matches before eventually overcoming Romania. The key player in their success was Kacper PIWOWAR, who won two matches – including the decisive one against Andrei TIBIRNA.
“I think we did a really good job, especially the boys on the bench, Pablo and Jake – they really helped us. I started well in the first match and felt comfortable. Then my teammate Abraham SELLADO played really well and won 3:0. We struggled a bit in the doubles, but it was really close – there wasn’t much we could do. In Abraham’s next singles match, he was just unlucky; it was very close. In my final match, I wasn’t really nervous, but of course, I wanted to win, for the team and for myself. I think the most crucial point was when I won the third game. If I had lost that, it would have been much harder for me,” said PIWOWAR.
