The favorites in the Junior Girls Teams’ Event at the STERILGARDA European Youth Championships all enjoyed success in the Round of 16. Germany Russia France and Romania booked their places in the quarterfinal of the event and they did it in impressive s The favorites in the Junior Girls Teams’ Event at the STERILGARDA European Youth Championships all enjoyed success in the Round of 16. Germany Russia France and Romania booked their places in the quarterfinal of the event and they did it in impressive style. All four matches concluded within 3:0 margin. Germany overcame Hungary. Chantal MANTZ Nina MITTELHAM and Alena LEMMER showed no mercy against Csilla NAGYPAL Leila IMRE and Lili TAKACS. In the lower half of the draw Russia also was in no mood for charity. Ekaterina GUSEVA Maria MALANINA and Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA overcame Portugal’s Rita FINS Marta SANTOS and Patricia MACIEL. They dominated matters from start to finish. Russia will play against Croatia. In duel against Serbia Lea RAKOVEC was the backbone of team’s success. She overcame Tamara AGOSTON and Ivana VEJNOVIC. Dorina SREBRNJAK and Klara CAKOL were stretched to full distance. SREBRNJAK lost against VEJNOVIC. France overcame Netherlands. Laura PFEFEFR set the course of the match with opening victory against Malenie BIERDRAGER. Marie MIGOT overcame Angelique GERTENBACH whilst Lynn VAN DER ELSEN suffered by the hands of Pauline CHASSELIN. Romania had shaky start against Spain. Nora ESCARTIN put Bernadett BALINT under pressure but young Romania’s star handled it well. She succeeded in five games. Mihaela LUPU and Andreea CLAPA had less problems against Laura RAMIREZ and Elena LOPEZ.

Two Romania’s players occupying the first and second places at the European rankings booked their spot in the quarterfinal of the Cadet Boys Teams’ Event without due concern. Top seeded Romania beat Serbia in straight matches in the Round of 16 at the STE Two Romania’s players occupying the first and second places at the European rankings booked their spot in the quarterfinal of the Cadet Boys Teams’ Event without due concern. Top seeded Romania beat Serbia in straight matches in the Round of 16 at the STERILGARDA European Youth Championships. Cristian PLETEA and Rares SIPOS proved too strong for their adversary. They will play against Denmark tomorrow. Rasmus MIKKELSEN and Andreas DILLING overcame Belgium. At the lower half of the draw France also concluded their visit to the venue quickly. Irvin BERTRAND and Nolan GIVONE overcame Belarus in straight matches. It was Valentine HENIN who managed to put Irvin under pressure. France will meet Sweden. Simon SODERLUND and Viktor GULLBO were stretched to full distance against Moldova. Germany also faced strong opposition in the match against Turkey. Gerrit ENGEMANN scored both his points against Mucahit KOYUNCU and Abdullah YIGENLER. XU Jannik lost against YIGENLER and Turkish doubles prevailed. Germany will meet another team who was forced to go full distance tonight. Italy’s Carlo ROSSI and Daniele PINTO struggled against Hungary. They were 2:1 in reverse before PINTO beat MOLNAR to bring team back in game. Russia beat Slovenia in straight matches. They will meet Poland. Polish team overcame Czech Republic. Reigning champions are out of the game but it was hard to believe that rejuvenated team could follow the footsteps of Tomas POLANSKI who is junior this year.

Reigning champions team of Romania secured their place in the quarterfinal of the Cadet Girls Teams’ Event tomorrow at the STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Riva del Garda. They beat Poland on their way to the best of 8. Adina DIACONU Europe’s Reigning champions team of Romania secured their place in the quarterfinal of the Cadet Girls Teams’ Event tomorrow at the STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Riva del Garda. They beat Poland on their way to the best of 8. Adina DIACONU Europe’s no. one player showed no mercy. She beat Agata ZAKRZEVSKA and with Andreea DRAGOMAN added another victory on her record in doubles. But it was not that easy for other favorites. Winner of the bronze medal last year in Ostrava team of Serbia is out. After thrilling five matches Hungary prevailed. Big favorites cracked under pressure. Leonie HARTBRICH won against both Izabela LUPULESKU and Sabina SURJAN whilst Orsolya FEHER added another point to the score sheet. Hungary will meet Turkey. Turkey’s Gul OZKAYA and Simay KULAKCEKEN succeeded in straight matches against Slovakia. Russia was also severely tested. Lisa LUNG was once again at the top of the game by beating Maria TAYLAKOVA and Anastasia KOLISH but the rest of the team could not follow. Russia will play against France. French cadets beat Norway. Ukraine beat Sweden and they will meet Romania tomorrow whilst Belarus will play against Germany. Jennie WOLF and  Luisa SAGER overcame Czech Republic in straight matches.

Honorary Member of ETTU and DTTB Dieter STEFFEN returned this year to his second “home” European Youth Championships. Due the health related issues he was absent for a while but he decided to put his body to the test and join the caravan in Italy. Die Honorary Member of ETTU and DTTB Dieter STEFFEN returned this year to his second “home” European Youth Championships. Due the health related issues he was absent for a while but he decided to put his body to the test and join the caravan in Italy. Dieter STEFFEN is deeply involved in table tennis especially in youth sport since 1962. He is Chairman of TTC Mennighueffen. Since 1979 until 2001 he was chairman of the German TT Youth Committee and a member of the Board of the German TTA. In 2001 he was appointed Honorary Member of DTTB; in 1993 appointed member of the ETTU Youth Committee and from that time until 2003 Deputy Chairman of this body. From 2003 until 2010 he was Chairman of ETTU Youth Committee. “I went through chemotherapy and now I am back. When I saw European Youth Championships would be held in Riva del Garda I was delightful. I could not miss such great opportunity to combine watching our youngsters see old colleagues with possibility to visit such wonderful place. I am very happy to meet Deputy Chairman Anton HAMRAN Ranking committee Chair Igor HELLER….and many other officials in ETTU ” said STEFFEN. His work is not only his passion but also his “second life”. “I dedicated my life to two things: table tennis and youngsters. I am teacher also“ added Mr STEFFEN. “This is something that keeps me going.” Being involved in table tennis for so long it is easy for Dieter STEFFEN to draw the parallel with the past. “Now almost every association works professionally with the children. Also we have 46 nations here which speak of importance of the event. Everybody wants to be at European Youth Championships. It is essential in order to follow the progress of our talents. It is important to see the level of play and compare it with the strong teams such as German or French…Also the organization reached higher level…we have progress on each segment.” And what about German team? “I was not involved very much in recent past but for sure Nina MITTELHAM is great talent. Germany also has good team in boys category. Last time when I was involved Patrick FRANZISKA won the title in Istanbul and I am proud of BOLL’s OVTCHAROV’s and BAUM’S achievements since I followed them from young age. In Italy I have not chance to see many matches but everyone knows Monday is the day when the real battles starts. I am looking forward good games ” stated Dieter STEFFEN.

Top seeds in Junior Boys Teams’ Event France were stretched to the full five matches distance by the spirited Slovakia’s side that came close to puling off what would have been a major upset at the STERILGARDA European Youth Championships. Alexandre CASS Top seeds in Junior Boys Teams’ Event France were stretched to the full five matches distance by the spirited Slovakia’s side that came close to puling off what would have been a major upset at the STERILGARDA European Youth Championships. Alexandre CASSIN Can AKKUZU and Paul GAUZY trailed Slovakia’s Ingemar PETER Alexander VALUCH and Samuel KALUZNY by two matches to one before recovering to force the decider. On his last visit to table AKKUZU beat PETER in five games. France will meet Germany already in quarters. QIU Dang Killian ORT and Dennis KLEIN overcame Russia in less dramatic vein. After all the drama with French team it was a comparatively quiet affair – they succeeded in four matches. Sweden beat Portugal. And Anton KALLBERG Carl AHLANDER JOHANSSON and Elias RANEFUR needed only three matches. On the other side Hungary who beat Serbia by same margin needed a strong nerves to succeed. Szudi ADAM was stretched to full distance twice in the match- against Nikola MARINKOVIC and Ivor KATIC. Janos MAJOROS also went full distance against Marko POPOVIC and it was only Nandor ECSEKI who escaped from agonizing fifth game. Croatia maintained good form. Tomislav PUCAR Filip ZELJKO and Vedran BAKAC beat Ukraine in straight games. They will meet Denmark tomorrow. Claus NIELSEN Tobias RASSMUSEN and Kasper RASSMUSEN prevailed against Slovenia. Czech Republic lost their encounter against Belarus. Europe’s player listed at position no. one David REITSPIES lost against Vadim YARASHENKA. YARASHENKA also overcame Tomas POLANSKI whilst Glem SHAMRUK overcame Stanislav KUCERA. They will play against Poland for the medal. Poland beat Austria in four games.

Top seeds in the Junior Boys Teams’ Event team of France justified their rankings and concluded Group stage at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Italian Riva del Garda at top position. Can AKKUZU Europe’s no. two at the rankings Ale Top seeds in the Junior Boys Teams’ Event team of France justified their rankings and concluded Group stage at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Italian Riva del Garda at top position. Can AKKUZU Europe’s no. two at the rankings Alexandre CASSIN Romain RUIZ Paul GAUZY and Joe SEYFRIED proved to strong for adversaries from Denmark Portugal and England. In Group B Croatia had performed expertly to reach top position. In full distance thriller against top seeded Sweden they secured first place. Filip ZELJKO Tomislav PUCAR Vedran BAKAC and Josip MUSTAPIC easily prevailed against Slovakia in the last duel in the group. Sweden beat Slovakia and Italy in straight matches but defeat against Croatia cost them first place. Hungary had problem-free path in the group stages. Adam SZUDI Nandor ECSEKI and Janos MAJOROS overcame Russia Poland and Belgium. The upsets came with the lower position fights. Poland overcame Russia to take their position at the end of the first phase. The team that proved how dangerous could be- Czech Republic justified its status. David REITSPIES firmly holds his position among top players as Europe’s no. one. Crowned cadet champion Tomas POLANSKI still looking for his place among juniors this season but his win over 4th European player Kilian ORT of Germany proves he is on the good path. In Group D Germany is second. However Germany concluded their group phase’s journey at the first place in the Junior Girls Teams’ Event. Nina MITTELHAM Chantal MANTZ Alena LEMMER and WAN Yuan beat Croatia Israel and Sweden as the seeding predicted. However Israel was close to upset the order when Nicole TROSMAN beat MITTELHAM and MANTZ but just day after those great victories it was Croatia’s Lea RAKOVAC who halted Israel’s progress by beating TROSMAN in the direct clash for the second position. Quiet but determent and firm Russia’s squad is on their way to the medal rostrum. Maria MALANINA Ekaterina GUSEVA Daria CHERNOVA Elizaveta KHLYZOVA Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA were stretched to full distance in the duels against Italy and Netherlands but they showed they can deal with the pressure. Today they overcame Turkey in straight matches. French side with Pauline CHASSELIN Laura PFEFER Audrey ZARIF Marie MIGOT and Oceane GUISNEL left only one point to Poland Serbia and Slovakia failed to leave the arena with any. In the match for the second place Poland overcame Serbia in full distance duel. Romania’s Mihaela LUPU Bernadett BALINT and Andreea CLAPA were under pressure against Belarus but today Hungary failed to endanger their leading position. Czech Republic lost against Romania but in the duels against lower ranked teams they showed no mercy.

In the Cadet Boys Teams’ Event at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships matters went according to seeding in the first stage of affairs. The top three seeded teams duly booked places in the Round of 16 and only in Group D favorite suffered. R In the Cadet Boys Teams’ Event at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships matters went according to seeding in the first stage of affairs. The top three seeded teams duly booked places in the Round of 16 and only in Group D favorite suffered. Romania’s Cristian PLETEA and Rares SIPOS won all three matches against Italy Czech Republic and Belarus. Host nation’s Daniele PINTO and Carlo ROSSI confirmed their status and concluded the first phase at the spot no. two in the Group. French partnership Nolan GIVONE Irvin BERTRAND and Remi MENAND showed quite incredible run of form. They beat Poland Turkey and Austria in Group B. Poland secured second position as seeding predicted. Russia’s Denis IVONIN Artur ABUSEV Anton KOTOV and Iliya ISAKOV lost only one match in singles during team’s event. Sweden and Belgium all suffered straight matches defeats against top seeds. Only Portugal prevented them of clear 9:0 record. Sweden is second after they were severely tested against Belgium in the match for position no. two. In Group D Germany prevailed at the top. Top seeded Moldova failed to justified their rankings. XU Jannik Gerrit ENGEMANN and Alexander GERHOLD seized the opportunity and finished first phase at the top. Denmark also exceeded their seeding and finished second. Moldova is third above Slovenia. In Cadet Girls Team’s Event Adina DIACONU European cadet singles and doubles champion from Ostrava 2014 Andreea DRAGOMAN and Tania PLAIAN confirmed their dominance. Czech Republic Turkey and Bulgaria failed to stop them. However Turkey upset the packing order and overcame Czech Republic to secure second position in Group A. Anastasia KOLISH and Maria TAYLAKOVA successfully concluded first stage at the top of the Group B. Russia beat Sweden Poland and Austria.  Serbia’s Izabela LUPULESKU Sabina SURJAN Dragana VEJNOVIC and Tijana JOKIC all had their chance today against Portugal.  Since they secured top position yesterday by winning Belgium and Belarus top players played only in doubles in order to regain some strength for second phase. Belarus is second; for that position they overcame Belgium with fantastic Lisa LUNG today. Germany refused to settle with second position in their group. They upset the rankings and emerged at the top position. Jennie WOLF Luisa SAGER Lotta ROSE lost against top seeded France but thanks to better matches ratio finished first.  Spain created upset by beating France but it did not help them go any place higher.

Top seeds in the Junior Boys Teams’ Event team of France emerged successfully at the opening match of the first day of the competition at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Italian Riva del Garda. Can AKKUZU Europe’s no. two at the ran Top seeds in the Junior Boys Teams’ Event team of France emerged successfully at the opening match of the first day of the competition at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Italian Riva del Garda. Can AKKUZU Europe’s no. two at the rankings Alexandre CASSIN and Paul GAUZY beat Portugal in four matches. Diogo CHEN only managed to steal the point against AKKUZU and Jorge COSTA stretched GAUZY to full distance. Denmark proved too strong for England but they lost against France. Portugal beat England in second round. At the top of the Group B Sweden justified their status. AHLANDER JOHANSSON Anton KALLBERG and Elias RANEFUR needed three matches to overcame Slovakia. Croatia’s Filip ZELJKO Tomislav PUCAR and Vedran BAKAC gave no hope to hosts. Despite the 3:0 victory Hungary played very close match against Poland in Group C. Adam SZUDI and Nandor ECSEKI went the full distance against Marek BADOWSKI and Patyk ZATOWKA. For Russia it was much easier. They overcame Belgium. However they failed to halt the progress of Hungary. Poland prevailed against Belgium in next round. Tomas POLANSKI conquered Europe last year as a cadet. This season in Italy he started his junior journey less victoriously but still Czech Republic won the match against Switzerland. Elia SCHMID overcame POLANSKI but David REITSPIES and Stanislav KUCERA secured important points. Germany also faced tough opposition. QIU Dang Killian ORT and Dennis KLEIN beat Dutch team in five matches. Top seeds in Junior Girls Teams’ Event at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Lago di Garda team of Germany faced fierce opposition at the opening day of the competition. Led by Nicole TROSMAN Israel forced Germany to go full distance. Two best ranked European players Nina MITTELHAM and Chantal MANTZ both suffered by her hands. However both beat Sonia TIPLICKI and Alena LEMMER succeeded against Neli SHOIFER. In same group Croatia beat Sweden. Germany concluded the day with the victory over Croatia whilst in full distance match Israel beat Sweden. Another favorite – Russia was forced to go through agonizing five matches in the opening round. Netherlands recovered from 2:0 in reverse to level the match but after additional five games in the fifth match Maria MALANINA sealed the duel against Lyn VAND DER ELSEN with 15:13 in the final set.  In the opening match Ekaterina GUSEVA beat Lyn and MALANINA overcame Angelique GERTENBACH but it was Melanie BIERDRAGER who brought Dutch team back to life. GUSEVA lost again against Angelique; MALANINA stayed calm to win the match. Italy overcame Turkey. French side with Pauline CHASSELIN Laura PFEFER and Audrey ZARIF faced no difficulties against Serbia whilst Poland justified their status against Slovakia. Serbia prevailed against Slovakia and France beat Poland latter today. In Group D Romania had few heavy moments and that very much thanks to Alina NIKITCHANKA. Alina beat both Mihaela LUPU and Bernadett BALINT. Andreea CLAPA was also stretched to full distance against Darya HLAZUNOVA but at the end Romania emerged victoriously. Czech Republic beat Hungary. Romania overcame Czech Republic whilst Hungary beat Belarus.

Romania’s Adina DIACONU European cadet singles and doubles champion from Ostrava 2014 successfully started this year’s campaign in team’s event at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships. In the opening match of the Cadet Girls’ Teams Event top Romania’s Adina DIACONU European cadet singles and doubles champion from Ostrava 2014 successfully started this year’s campaign in team’s event at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships. In the opening match of the Cadet Girls’ Teams Event top seeds Romania beat Turkey. DIACONU and Andreea DRAGOMAN left only one point to adversaries. Czech Republic also presented good game against Bulgaria and succeeded in straight matches. In the second round Romania prevailed against Czech Republic without great problems. Bulgaria managed to take only one point from Turkey. Anastasia KOLISH and Maria TAYLAKOVA justified their seeding position by beating Poland and Sweden. Sweden’s Ellen HOLMSTEN and Stina KALLBERG overcame Austria’s representatives. Austria lost against Poland in next round. Top seeds in Group C Serbia was under severe test mostly thanks to no. two at European rankings Lisa LUNG. Lisa beat both Sabina SURJAN and Izabela LUPULESKU. However doubles match proved as crucial and Belgium lost it as well as the match. Belarus beat Portugal 3:0. Serbia beat Belarus latter and Belgium recovered to overcame Portugal. In Group D another favorite stumbled. France only managed to stretch Spain to full distance before ZHANG Huang Hu and Marina NIGUES recorded victory. Germany was also forced to play all five matches but they concluded the encounter in their favor. Jennie WOLF and Luisa SAGER beat Italy. Host nation also suffered by the hands of Spain at the end of the day. Denmark upset the packing order Tomas POLANSKY and Patrik KLOS are no longer members of the Czech cadet team and that made Romania’s job much easier on the opening match in Group A of the Cadet Boys Teams Event.  Top seeds at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships with players ranked at the positions no. 1 and 2 on the European rankings Cristian PLETEA and Rares SIPOS prevailed in three matches. Only in doubles their adversaries managed to gain the point. Italy recorded straight matches victory against Belarus. In the second round Romania overcame Italy whilst Czech Republic left Belarus without points. In Group B for top seeds Nolan GIVONE and Irvin BERTRAND prevailed against Turkey and Poland whilst Poland beat Austria to prevent any upsets in the group. Turkey also accounted for Austria. Russia’s Denis IVONIN and Artur ABUSEV showed no mercy against Belgium’s Florian CNUDDE and Valentin PIERAERT whilst Sweden’s Simon SODERLUND and Viktr GULBBO beat Portugal. Sweden failed to stay on winning tracks. Russia succeeded in the second match. First upset came in Group D. The only top seeded team in first 4 groups in Cadet Boys’ teams Event that suffered defeat in morning round was Moldova. Denmark ‘s Andreas DILLING and Rasmus MIKKELSEN were on duty in that match.  

Three weeks of intensive preparations are well behind. Now the German team is ready for another big challenge at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships that commences tomorrow. The team arrived already on Wednesday. Under main spotlight will b Three weeks of intensive preparations are well behind. Now the German team is ready for another big challenge at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships that commences tomorrow. The team arrived already on Wednesday. Under main spotlight will be the junior girls’ Team. Last year’s runner ups are now on the top position on the seeding list. Led by Nina MITTELHAM the crowned singles doubles and mixed doubles champion from Ostrava 2013 with Chantal MANTZ European no. two and Alena LEMMER and YUAN Wan all in top 8 they are the main favorites for the top place at the medal rostrum. In the opening phase they are in the group with Croatia Israel and Sweden. Coach Tobias KIRCH pointed at Romania Russia and France as teams who can severely challenge Germany but it does not change the aims of the team. At this point the recent injuries are the thing that bother him more. “We have a good team. We can reach the medal maybe gold ” said MANZ. For junior boys’ team qualifying for World Championships is the minimum they want to achieve. They are in Group D seeded no. two below Czech Republic and above Switzerland and Netherland. Coach Klaus SCHMITTINGER count on DANG Qiu Kilian ORT Dennis KLEIN Dominik SCHEJA and Nils HOHMEIER. “I believe we can reach position no. 5 and qualified for World Championships ” said SCHMITTINGER. The most interesting duel will certainly be the one against Czech Republic with David REITSPIES Europe’s no. 1. “Match against Czech Republic is very open chances are 50:50 ” explained ORT. And DANG added:  ”The Group is not very hard but still it will be difficult to achieve our goal”.