The team events at the 2026 JOOLA Europe Youth Series Serbia Open in Beočin produced four very different routes to gold, with Ireland, Serbia, Italy and Türkiye celebrating titles across the U15 and U13 categories.
Ireland overturned an early deficit to beat top seeds Poland in the U15 Boys’ final, while Serbia 1 delighted the home crowd by taking the U15 Girls’ crown. Italy completed a perfect round-robin campaign in the U13 Boys’ event, while fifth seeds Türkiye produced a superb run to emerge victorious in the U13 Girls’ competition.
In the U15 Boys’ Team final, Ireland came from behind to defeat top seeds Poland 11-7 and claim the title.
Poland made an impressive start. Maksymilian KSIAZEK edged Peadar SHERIDAN in five games, winning the decider 11-8, before Olaf GLANERT overcame Ryan LI in straight games to put the favourites firmly in control.
The momentum changed dramatically in the doubles. SHERIDAN and LI produced a commanding performance to beat KSIAZEK and GLANERT 3-0, and Ireland never looked back.
SHERIDAN then overcame GLANERT 3-1, recovering after losing the opening game, before LI completed the turnaround with a straight-games victory over KSIAZEK to seal the 11-7 win and the gold medal.
The victory completed an impressive campaign for the No. 2 seeds, who had already survived a thrilling 10-9 semi-final against Denmark. Poland reached the title match after overcoming Serbia 1 10-7 in the other semi-final. Poland were the No. 1 seeds, while Serbia 1 and Denmark were seeded third and sixth respectively.
The U15 Girls’ Team competition followed a different format, with the medals determined by the final standings after all nine teams met in a single round-robin group.
Serbia 1 delighted the home crowd by taking gold after an impressive campaign. Third seeds Emili MIUL and Lena TERZIC finished at the top of the standings with seven wins from eight encounters and 64 points.
Their only defeat came against Denmark, 5-8, but strong performances throughout the competition proved enough to secure first place.
Denmark, seeded No. 4 and represented by Chelinda VOONG and Ellen HAUGAARD, completed the competition unbeaten with eight wins and 62 points to take silver. They notably defeated the eventual champions Serbia 1 8-5, but with every game counting as one point under the competition system, Serbia accumulated more points across the complete round robin and finished ahead in the final standings.
Top seeds Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia completed the podium. Mia HADZOVIC and Sara RIVETTI recorded six wins and two defeats and collected 56 points to secure bronze.
In the U13 Boys’ Team event, Italy claimed gold after completing the round robin with a perfect nine victories from nine matches.
Top seeds Giorgio BORGHESE, Pietro CAMPAGNA and Luca FRANZONI accumulated 78 points, with their closest contest coming against eventual silver medallists Greece. Italy prevailed 6-5 in what proved to be the decisive meeting between the leading two teams.
Greece, the No. 2 seeds, finished with an 8-1 record to secure silver. Nikolaos ALEXIDIS and Theofanis MARKOULAKIS collected 77 points, with their only defeat coming against the champions.
One of the biggest moves compared with the seedings came from Bulgaria. Starting as the No. 8 seeds, Adem AHMEDOV and Yoan-David GEORGIEV produced seven victories from nine matches to take bronze, with their only defeats coming against Italy and Greece.
The U13 Girls’ Team competition provided one of the standout stories of the team events, as fifth seeds Türkiye completed a superb run by defeating Italy 10-5 in the final.
Beren BOZKURT and Gizem CIGIL had already produced a major upset in the semi-finals, eliminating top seeds Serbia 1 after an extraordinary contest finished 10-10 in games. Türkiye progressed on the overall points count, 183-173, to book their place in the title match.
Second seeds Italy made the stronger start in the final as Weilan CHEN overcame BOZKURT 3-1 in a high-quality opening contest, with the first game going all the way to 17-15. CIGIL immediately responded, beating Serena ROSSATI 3-1 to bring Türkiye level.
The Turkish pair then took control. BOZKURT and CIGIL combined to beat ROSSATI and CHEN 3-1 in the doubles, before CIGIL produced another commanding performance, overcoming CHEN in straight games to complete Türkiye’s 10-5 victory and secure the title.
CIGIL proved decisive throughout the closing stages of the competition. She won both of her singles matches in the semi-final against Serbia 1 and then added two more singles victories in the final, as well as partnering BOZKURT to the doubles win.
Italy, represented by Weilan CHEN and Serena ROSSATI, took silver, while Serbia 1 and Bulgaria 1 earned bronze after reaching the semi-finals. Türkiye had entered the competition as the No. 5 seeds, behind top seeds Serbia 1, Italy, Slovakia and Bulgaria 1.
