At the European Youth Championships 533 players participated whilst more than 90 referees and umpires were on duty. Most successful players with four medals are Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia and  Cristian PLETEA of Romania. Three medals are won by: Patryk ZATOWKA (POL) Alexandre CASSIN (FRA) Jules ROLLAND (FRA) Adina DIACONU (ROU) Andreea CLAPA (ROU) Rares SIPOS (ROU) Andreea DRAGOMAN (ROU) Youngest Player was Patricia SANTOS of Portugal born on September 8th 2004 and the boy Joseph ROBERTS of Wales March 3rd 2003. We saw 565 team encounters with 2.127 individual matches and 1.206 individual matches. Total: 3.333 matches in 10 days. Players with the most matches in team events: Kalina HRISTOVA (BUL) 25 Katie Mcglone (IRL) 25 Ivona PETRIC (MNE) 24 Laurens DEVOS (BEL) 23 Alexander RAMSDEN (ENG) 23. Most matches in individual events: Maria TAYLAKOVA and Christian PLETEA (18 of maximum possible -18) Adina DIACONU is becoming one of the best EYC players ever. Including this years team title she now has 10 and only two players have more.  1. Vladimir SAMSONOV : 13 2. Bernadette SZOCS : 11 3. Otilia BADESCU : 10 3. Gabrielle WIRTH : 10 3. Adina DIACONU : 10 6. Jan Ove WALDNER : 9 6. Michaela STEFF : 9 6. Antonela MANAC : 9 6. Tristan FLORE : 9 ———————————– 10. Iolanta DANILIAVICIUTE : 8 10. Bagrat BURNAZJAN : 8 ————————————— 12. Timo BOLL : 7 12. Enzo ANGLES : 7 12. Daniela DODEAN : 7

DIACON added the title in the Singles event to the long list   Adina DIACONU of Romania become one of the best European Youth Championships players ever. Including this year’s team title in Bratislava   she now has 10 and only two players have more. She will joined Gabrielle WIRTH and Otilia BADESCU on position three with 10 medals in total. Only Vladimir SAMSONOV with 13 and Bernadette SZOCS with 11 are above her. The latest addition was the Junior Girls Singles Event gold. In the final she beat Marie MIGOT of France 4:2 (-8 4 6 8 -10 5). “This is my third title in the row and I could not be more happier ” said DIACONU. In the semi final Adina DIACONU beat Audrey ZARIF of France 4:2 (7 13 -7 -6 9 8). “It was really important for me that I won the opening game. I imposed the control from the beginning. In second it was 7:7 8:8 before I won and with that advantage I was in control. I constantly changed the pace of the game and played very aggressive. The fact that I beat her in our previous encounter helped for sure. It was year or two ago ” said Adina. MIGOT overcame Andreea CLAPA of Romania 4:2 (5 -10 7 7 -11 8).  “It was 3:1 and 5:9 but I lost the game. I had to change the tactics but basically I am very good in the game against left-handers. In addition it was our re-run of the semi final in Ostrava three years ago. I also beat her 4:2 at that time ” said MIGOT. JUNIOR GIRLS SINGLES EVENT  Gold medal Adina DIACONU of Romania  Silver medal Marie MIGOT of France Bronze medal Audrey ZARIF of France Andreea CLAPA of Romania 

Player from Sweden clinched Junior Boys Singles title   Anton KALLBERG won the title in the Junior Boys Singles Event at the European Youth Championships in Bratislava. In the final he beat Alexandre CASSIN of France 4:1 (4 8 -9 6 8). “It was long and hard championships. It is hard for me to find the words at the end. In the final I thought I was little bit better ” stated KALLBERG. ”It has been long journey and I was under pressure in each match.” In the semi final top seeded KALLBERG beat Andreas LEVENKO of Austria 4:2 (-10 7 7 5 -12 12). “We exchanged a lot of open rallies. He responded very well on my service game. He played very safe on the first ball so I sought for a solution to beat him ” said KALLBERG. In other match CASSIN beat Patryk ZATOWKA of Poland 4:1 (8 -7 10 7 8). “We played against each other six time before and each time I won. It gave me very much confidence at the beginning of the match. The pressure was on him. After 1:0 could read his face and I saw that he lost the focus. However it could be dangerous situation if you are a favorite. It could easily happened that I lost my focus so I was very aware of it” said CASSAN. JUNIOR BOYS SINGLES EVENT Gold medal Anton KALLBERG of Sweden Silver medal Alexandre CASSIN of France  Bronze medal Andreas LEVENKO of Austria Patryk ZATOWKA of Poland

Croatia’s pairings reached gold     Ema MARN and Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia clinched the gold medal at the European Youth Championships in Bratislava. In the final of the Cadet Girls Doubles Event they overcame Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania 3:1 (6 -11 10 10). “I still can not believe we won the title. After today’s semi final when we failed to produce the game at the highest level we succeeded in the ultimate stage ” said Ema MARN. PAVLOVIC added that the tactic was very important. “We controlled the situation with the good attacks. The most difficult match for us was the semi final but after we won that our confidence rose.” In the penultimate stage MARN and PAVLOVIC exceeded the rankings and beat the top seeds Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania 3:1 (-10 8 8 9). “I did not believe we could win this but at the end I am not very happy with my performance. I should put more first balls on the table. My receive of service was not very good ” said Ema. Andrea was not that unhappy. “We are playing together for a two years and it was great advantage against combination of Russia’s and Romania’s player. They needed little more matches together ” said PAVLOVIC and added that the Croatian pairings already won the silver medal at the Slovakia and Croatia Open whilst in Italy they were third. The doubles paired for European championships PLAIAN and RUB worked perfectly despite the short period of existence. In semis they overcame Katarzyna WEGRZYN and Anna WEGRZYN of Poland 3:0 (8 7 7). “We are very compatible. PLAIAN is a very good player; when I made mistake she can easily “cover” it ” explained RUB. PLAIAN added: ”Against Polish pairings the start was very important. It gave us the confidence.” CADET GIRLS DOUBLES EVENT Gold medal Ema MARN and Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia Silver medal Tania PLAIAN Romania and Elina RUB of Russia  Bronze medal Katarzyna WEGRZYN and Anna WEGRZYN of Poland Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania

France won silver in Mixed Doubles Like two years earlier Romanian Mixed Doubles composed of Alexandru MANOLE and Andreea CLAPA won the gold medal at the European Youth Championship in Bratislava. In the final they overcame Romain RUIZ and Oceane GUISNEL of France. “I am happy that we reached gold once again. It is wonderful feeling ” said MANOLE. CLAPA was also delighted. “Our way to the gold was very difficult we played full five games match after match. In the final French pairings were great. They put us under heavy pressure ” said CLAPA. In the semi final RUIZ and GUISNEL beat Aleksandr KHANIN and Daria TRIGOLOS of Belarus – 3:1 (5 -9 11 7). It was the first time that they meet.  “We never played before but we were aware how dangerous they could be. It was most important to stay focused because they are able to seize any opportunity they get ” explained RUIZ. GUISNEL and RUIZ lost their singles matches so it was hard to get over defeats.  “I lost the match only hour ago…” The same was with GUISNEL:”I was defeated in singles and doubles so I gave my best to win the doubles. I am so happy after all. RUIZ and I played together last year in Italy and we reached the Round of 16. ” In other semi final match MANOLE and CLAPA beat Polish – Romanian combination of Patryk ZATOWKA Adina DIACONU 3:1 (6 -12 8 15). “Two years ago in the semi final we played against Adina and Darko JORGIC in the semi final and we beat them by same result. We knew what we have to do here ” said MANOLE. The winners of silver and gold medals in Doubles in Austria and Ostrava also knew it will be extremely difficult. “It is always hard to play against Adina. We are in the same team and it is difficult to invent something new that could surprise her. Her top spins are so dangerous ” said CLAPA. JUNIOR MIXED DOUBLES  Final Alexandru MANOLE and Andreea CLAPA – Romain RUIZ and Oceane GUISNEL 3:2 (11:9 11:8 3:11 7:11 11:9) Gold medal Alexandru MANOLE and Andreea CLAPA of Romania Silver medal Romain RUIZ and Oceane GUISNEL of France Bronze medal Patryk ZATOWKA of Poland and Adina DIACONU of Romania Aleksandr KHANIN and Daria TRIGOLOS of Belarus

Cadet Mixed Doubles of Sweden clinched silver   One of the most successful players at the European Youth Championships in Bratislava clinched the gold medals in the Cadet Mixed Doubles Event. Cristian PLETEA of Romania and Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia beat Martin FRIIS and Ellen HOLMSTEN of Sweden in the final. “It is the first Championships that we are playing together but it did not affect our game. Maria was superb ” said PLETEA. In the penultimate stage match PLETEA and TAYLAKOVA overcame Lev KATSMAN and Kristina KAZANTSEVA of Russia 3:1 (-11 6 3 5) “It is first time that Cristian and I playing together but the most difficult thing was to play against my teammates. Lev and Kristina knows me very well they know all my weak points ” explained TAYLAKOVA. But it also could help. “With Masha I could make a good tactics. We talked before the match and decided how to play ” said PLETEA. FRIIS and HOLMSTEN beat Vladislav URSU of Moldova and Vony Ange RANDRIANTSOA of France in the semi final – 3:0 (10 9 6). “At the beginning our adversaries had advantage. In second set we were 0:6 on reverse so the victory did not came easy ” said Ellen. The Swedish pairings got to change something. “Our approach were to much defensive so we started to attack more and it paid off ” added FRIIS. In Bratislava Swedish pairings teamed up for a first time.” Before this we had only one training together ” stated HOLMSTEN. CADET MIXED DOUBLES Final  Cristian PLETEA and Maria TAYLAKOVA – Martin FRIIS and Ellen HOLMSTEN 3:2 (11:9 9:11 11:9 6:11 11:9) Gold medal Cristian PLETEA of Romania and Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia Silver medal Martin FRIIS and Ellen HOLMSTEN of Sweden Bronze medal Lev KATSMAN and Kristina KAZANTSEVA of Russia Vladislav URSU of Moldova and Vony Ange RANDRIANTSOA of France

Player from Russia secured four medals in Bratislava   On the ultimate day at the Cadet Girls Singles Event of the European Youth Championships in Bratislava in the semi final will play Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia Lucie GAUTHIER of France Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania and Stina KALLBERG of Sweden. In the quarterfinal TAYLAKOVA overcame Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia 4:1 (-9 5 5 5 1) whilst GAUTHIER prevailed against Kastiaryna VAKHLIYEVA of Belarus 4:0 (6 4 9 5). KALLBERG beat Zdena BLASKOVA of Czech Republic 4:2 (6 -7 8 -10 7 3) and DRAGOMAN prevailed against Kristina KAZANTSEVA of Russia 4:2 (8 -8 -7 8 5 13).  In the semis of the Cadet Girls Doubles Event will play again Maria TAYLAKOVA of Russia and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania against Ema MARN and Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia whilst Katarzyna WEGRZYN and Anna WEGRZYN of Poland will meet Tania PLAIAN Romania and Elina RUB of Russia. In the quarterfinal top seeds the combination of Romania and Russia beat Katarina STRAZAR and Aleksandra VOVK of Slovenia in straight games (9 4 6). MARN and PAVLOVIC needed one more game to prevail against host nation’s Ema LABOSOVA and Nikoleta PUCHOVANOVA (13 10 -10 8). In the lower half of the draw Katarzyna and Anna WEGRZYN beat Annastasia KOLISH and Kristina KAZANTSEVA of Russia 3:1 (9 9 -6 2) whilst PLAIAN and RUB overcame Leili MOSTAFAVI and Lucie GAUTHIER of France in the full distance duel 3:2 (9 -7 6 -7 6).

On his way to semis XU beat no. two seed Top Romanian players justified their status in the Cadet Boys Team’s Event. Top seeded Cristian PLETEA of Romania Jules ROLLAND of France Rares SIPOS of Romania and XU Jannik of Germany will play in the semi final.  In the quarterfinal PLETEA beat Lev KATSMAN of Russia 4:1 (-9 4 5 8 6) whilst SIPOS overcame Fanbo MENG of Germany by same margin (5 6 7 -9 3). Europe’s no. 14 ROLLAND already in the 4th Round overcame Europe’s no. 5 Truls MOREGARDH of Sweden so he had much easier task in quarters. Today he overcame Tom EISE of Germany 4:1 (6 6 -11 5 11). No. 10 at European Rankings Jannik XU also halted the progress of the favorite – he beat seeded no. two Irvin BERTRAND of France before he accounted for Carlo ROSSI of Italy 4:2 (-10 10 -3 7 6 8). Two French pairings booked their place in the semi final stage of the Cadet Boys Doubles Event. Cristian PLETEA and Rares SIPOS of Romania Leo DE NODREST and Jules ROLLAND of France Vladimir SIDORENKO and Maksim GREBNEV and Irvin BERTRAND and Lilian BARDET of France. Top seeds from Romania played very tense match against Tom EISE and Kirill FADEEV of Germany. After 9 days of play in the final matches it is hard to stay calm. With little bit more emotions than necessary Romanian combination prevailed in four games 3:1 (-12 12 9 4). All remaining matches concluded by same margin: DE NODREST and ROLLAND beat Matteo MUTTI and Carlo ROSSI of Italy (4 -5 10 7) SIDORENKO and GREBNEV overcame Medardas STANKEVICIUS of Lithuania and Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece (5 -9 9 4) whilst BERTRAND and BARDET overcame Jannik XU and Fangbo MENG (11 -5 6 5). 

Junior Girls team reach Round of 16 after being seeded at the last position in their group     Junior Girls Team of Croatia reached the knock out stage to be with the top 16 teams at the European Championships in Bratislava. Klara BARDAC Klara CAKOL Karla FRANOVIC and Dorina SREBRNJAK were seeded as fourth team in the Group B.   They overcame Spain and Portugal before they forced Romania to go full distance. Even Adina DIACONU was under severe pressure against CAKOL.   “ We beat Portugal in the opening round in five matches and that gave us boost. No one took us as favorites but we proved we could play against them. CAKOL beat Rita FINS latter in the match against Portugal to proved our good result is not accidental ” explained Dorina.   Dorina already won the medal at the European Youth Championships three seasons ago. “I hope we can reach the medal rostrum again ” said SREBENJAK.   In The Round of 16 Croatia will meet Belarus.

German national coach leads Junior’s team at EYC for a last time before retirement   The 58th edition of the European Youth Championships in Bratislava will be the last one at the bench for the German coach Klaus SCHMITTINGER. SCHMITTINGER will retire by the end of the year after 37 years on duty as a trainer. In 1979 Klaus SCHMITTINGER took the responsibility of cadet boys and girls as German national coach and since then he is constantly involved in work in the DTTB. In ’80 SCHMITTINGER lead Women’s team also for a few years he has been involved in coaching of Men’s team; four years he taught future coaches and talent’s scouts.  “From 2001 until now I am coaching juniors and cadets ” said Klaus SCHMITTINGER. Asked about the generation which grew to his heart the most German expert found it hard to answer.  “There were few for sure. It was nice to work with the generation of Christian SUSS and Patrick BAUM then the team with Dimitrij OVTCHAROV BAUM and Ruwen FILIUS; recently with Patrick FRANZISKA then Kilian ORT and Ding QIU…” In Bratislava in Juniors Boys team are Gerrit ENGEMANN Tobias HIPPLER Balasz HUTTER Denis KLEIN and Jonah SCHILIE. “It is very young generation. The core of the team will play in junior category for three more years since they are the last cadet year. Therefore I am very happy with their result in Bratislava.” However SCHMITTINGER underlined that the result at Youth Championships is not the ultimate goal in process of coaching youngsters.  “Medals are important but most important is to create the player who will be successful latter as a senior. This is just a development phase.” What will you do after retirement?  “I can be little bit more active with my hobby. Since a long time with my wife I am enjoying dancing twice a week; Salsa Latino…Maybe I will have more time for few hours of dance more.”  However SCHMITTINGER has no plans of leaving table tennis for good.  “I hope I will be still involved in table tennis at lest for a week in the month. I hope that German Federation or ITTF will let me be the part of some development program. Otherwise it will be very bored to be without the sport. If you do not work it is not good for your mind and body.”