In the Under 15 Girls Event, for the first time since 1999, Romania will not appear on the medal rostrum. Italy made their mark in history and secured at least a bronze medal. Manon LOTH, Sofia EPISCOPO, and Gioia Maria PICU overcame Patricia STOICA, Maya Roberta MADAR, and Kariss Yasmin SERBAN. “We played match by match, and we were really focused the whole time. We were really happy to reach the top 16, then the quarterfinals, and now even happier to be in the semifinals. In this match, I tried to put our number one player against their number one in the first match, and it worked. LOTH won 3-1 against STOICA, and that put a lot of pressure on them, I think. After that match, we continued with a calm mindset. We didn’t expect this at all — when we saw the draw for the first time, we knew it would be difficult. But to beat Romania is something incredible. We prepared better, found a good tactic from the beginning, and followed it the whole time. Before the match, I prepared a video and discussed tactics with the team — who should play against whom, and so on. I think that helped a lot, we knew what to do. I even had a paper with tactical notes in my pocket, and I used it,” said Italian coach Hugo BERGER, laughing.“The first two matches were really important for us. If we had gone 0-2 down, it would’ve been really difficult to come back. The next round will be really tough because we play against France, but we believe in ourselves and we’ll try our best to beat them.” In the semifinals, Italy will face France, while Germany will play against Czechia.

The reigning champions in the Under 19 Team’s Event, Team Romania, reached the semifinals after overcoming the top-seeded French team at the European Youth Championships in Ostrava. Once again, Ostrava proved to be an unlucky city for the favorites — France will miss the medal rostrum for the first time since the 2019 edition, which was also held at the Torax Arena. Due to a rejuvenated lineup, Romania was seeded only at position no. 5 despite having won the title last year. With only two out of five players remaining from last year’s squad, the new team has shown that they can continue the legacy. Without Andrei ISTRATE and Darius MOVILEANU, Iulian CHIRITA led the team to the podium once again. He repeated last year’s performance against France, where Romania also stopped them in the semifinals. Romania needed only three matches to secure their spot in the semis. Iulian CHIRITA defeated Flavio MOURIER, Dragos BUJOR prevailed against Nathan PILARD, and in a dramatic five-game battle, Robert Alexandru ISTRATE beat Nathan LAM. “We knew that France has great players, all of them, and that it would be really difficult — they are the first seeds. But we went into the match with a clear head. We beat them in the last two years, so we just focused and played our best. My match against MOURIER was important, especially for me, because at the beginning of the tournament I didn’t feel great and wasn’t playing my best. Against him, I knew I had to be careful with his long serves – but I prepared for that in practice. The tactic during the match remained the same the whole time. I didn’t change anything,” explained CHIRITA. Romania’s first player continued: “BUJOR beat PILARD – it was a really close match, and both played very well. The last match was ISTRATE against Nathan LAM. We’re really proud of him because he’s the youngest player on our team and he did a great job. He was up 2-0, but I think he got nervous and was afraid to win — this is his first European Youth Championships as a junior, but he managed to keep his head and win. In the semifinal we’ll play against Slovakia. We’ve never played against them before, but we know each other well, so we’ll see. We’ll discuss tactics with our coach and try our best.”

For the first time since 2016, Spain will stand on the medal rostrum in the Under 19 Girls category at the European Youth Championships. And for the first time since 2019, Romania will have no representatives among the medal winners in the same category. That is the outcome of their dramatic quarterfinal clash today in Czechia. Spain previously won bronze in 2016, ending a long drought following back-to-back gold medals in 2004 and 2005 with the team led by Galia DVORAK. Last year, they finished seventh and entered this year’s EYC as the no. 8 seeds. On the other side, Ostrava once again proved to be an unlucky venue for Romania. It was also in 2019, at this very location, that the Romanian team missed the podium. This will now be only the third time in this century that Romania’s junior girls fail to reach the medal podium. The no. 5 seeds and last year’s runners-up were defeated in an unusual and dramatic style. Bianca MEI ROSU gave Romania a good start with a win over Maria BERZOSA, but then Camila Renata MOSCOSO turned the momentum of the match. She defeated Alesia Sofia SFERLEA, and Mariona MUNNE followed up with a win against Andreea JIFCU. Finally, MOSCOSO delivered the decisive blow, beating the reigning Under 19 Singles champion MEI ROSU. “This win is like a dream for us, we still can’t believe it. I played really well in this match, but I was quite nervous for sure. I’m still young, and these wins carry a lot of weight for me, especially against Bianca MEI ROSU. She is an incredible player,” said MOSCOSO. She continued: “It’s not usual for Spain to win a medal, so this is an incredible moment for us. In both matches I felt a lot of pressure, but I believed in myself the whole time. With Bianca, it’s really complicated to win, but I did it and I’m so happy. I’ll never forget this moment. In that match, I just played and stayed focused. I didn’t change anything during the match. I stuck to the tactic we discussed beforehand: playing more short balls and focusing on controlling her serves, which are very high-quality.” MOSCOSO underlined the team’s performance. “I’m so proud of my team — you can’t even imagine how much. It’s a huge relief for us, and now it’s most important to stay focused for the next round and play our best, just like we did against Romania,” said MOSCOSO. In the semifinals, Spain will face Ukraine, who also produced an upset by defeating no. 2 seeds Germany. In the other semifinal, top seeds France will play against Portugal. France overcame Austria, while Portugal halted Hungary’s progress.