In the Under 19 Boys Doubles Event the top-seeded pair of Darius MOVILEANU and Eduard IONESCU of Romania advanced to the semifinals at the ORLEN European Youth Championships. They will face host nation favorites Marcel BLASZCZYK and Alan KULCZYCKI of Poland. In the lower half of the draw Iulian CHIRITA and Teodor ISTRATE of Romania will clash against Thibault PORET and Hugo DESCHAMPS of France. In the quarterfinals MOVILEANU and IONESCU overcame Jakub GOLDIR and Samuel PALUSEK of Slovakia (6 7 5) while BLASZCZYK and KULCZYCKI defeated Flavien COTON of France and Dragos BUJOR of Romania (11 10 8). CHIRITA and ISTRATE proved too strong for William BERGENBLOCK and Isak ALFREDSSON of Sweden (6 7 -4 3) and PORET and DESCHAMPS beat Mael VAN DESSEL of Luxembourg and Kas VAN OOST of the Netherlands (6 5 9). In the Under 19 Girls Doubles Event the semifinals will see Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania facing Mia GRIESEL of Germany and Bianca MEI ROSU of Romania while Nicole ARLIA of Italy and Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania will play against Zuzanna WIELGOS and Anna BRZYSKA of Poland. In the semifinals the top-seeded pair of ZAHARIA and ARAPOVIC overcame Natalia BOGDANOWICZ of Poland and Veronika MATIUNINA of Ukraine (7 3 -9 10). The combination of GRIESEL from Germany and MEI ROSU from Romania also needed four games to beat Silvia COLL of Spain and Anna HURSEY of Wales (-10 7 6 9). The host nation favorites WIELGOS and BRZYSKA secured a victory over Ines MATOS and Matilde PINTO of Portugal (5 4 8) while ARLIA and SINGEORZAN prevailed against Lilou MASSART of Belgium and Elise PUJOL of France (5 6 -7 7). In the Under 15 Boys Doubles Event in Gliwice the medal winners have been determined and four pairings have advanced to the semifinals. The top seeds Julian RZIHAUSCHEK of Austria and Tiago ABIODUN of Portugal will face Kenan KAHRAMAN and Gorkem OCAL of Türkiye in one semifinal while Mateusz SAKOWICZ and Patryk ZYWORONEK of Poland will play against Danilo FASO and Francesco TREVISAN of Italy in the other semifinal. RZIHAUSCHEK and ABIODUN secured their spot in the semis by defeating Matej HASPEL and Noah HERSEL of Germany (9 10 7). Interestingly the semifinals will feature players from the teams of Türkiye and Italy who were the winners of the gold and silver medals at the European Under 13 Championships held in Zagreb two months ago. Türkiye’s pairings KAHRAMAN and OCAL overcame Robert ISTRATE and Robert PODAR of Romania (9 7 -7 11). Zagreb’s finalists FASO and TREVISAN overcame the no. 2 seeds Petr HODINA of Austria and Damian FLORO of Slovakia in a hard-fought match (7 -2 -7 11 7). Mateusz SAKOWICZ and Patryk ZYWORONEK prevailed against Jaksa KRIVOKAPIC and Stefan RADONJIC of Montenegro (6 10 5) to secure their spot in the semifinals. In the semi-final of the Under 15 Girls Doubles Event on the last day of play Koharu ITAGAKI and Josephina NEUMANN of Germany will face Veronika POLAKOVA of Czechia and Maria BERZOSA of Spain. In the lower half of the draw Nina GUO ZHENG and Leana HOCHART of France will play against Julia LEAL of Portugal and Andreea BAISU of Romania. In the quarterfinals the top-seeded pair of ITAGAKI and NEUMANN overcame Gaetane BLED of France and Susana COSTA of Portugal (6 8 4). The second-seeded pair of Nina GUO ZHENG and Leana HOCHART justified their status by beating Hanka KODETOVA of Czechia and Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA of Poland (12 3 3). Veronika POLAKOVA and Maria BERZOSA also needed only three games to overcome Sophie BARCSAI and Nora DOHOCZKI of Hungary (5 7 7). Julia LEAL and Andreea BAISU resolved their quarterfinal clash with Lorena MORSCH and Lisa-Sophia WANG of Germany in four games (11 8 -10 11).  

Medals have been secured in both the Under 19 and Under 15 Mixed Doubles events at the ORLEN European Championships in Gliwice. Players from six countries will stand on the medal podium tomorrow. In the Under 19 event Romania is leading while French players dominated the Under 15 Mixed Doubles Event. In the Under 19 Mixed Doubles event top seeds Eduard IOENSCU and Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania defeated Milosz REDZIMSKI and Wiktoria WROBEL of Poland (5 9 8). However the host nation will still have representatives in the semifinals as Marcel BLASZCZYK and Zuzanna WIELGOS beat Hugo DESCHAMPS of France and Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia (6 3 9). Teodor ISTRATE of Romania and Nicole ARLIA of Italy proved too strong for Connor GREEN of England and Anna HURSEY of Wales (6 3 9). In contrast Darius MOVILEANU and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania faced serious pressure needing five games to halt the progress of Andre BERTELSMEIER and Mia GRIESEL of Germany (-3 6 -7 5 9). In the quarterfinals top seeds Julian RZIHAUSCHEK of Austria and Josephina NEUMANN of Germany overcame Danilo FASO and Sofia MINURRI of Italy (-7 12 10 6). They will meet Patryk ZYWORONEK of Poland and Gaetane BLED of France. The Polish-French combination prevailed against Robert Alexandru ISTRATE and Andreea BAIASU of Romania (8 -9 8 8). In the lower half of the draw only French players succeeded. Sandro CAVAILLE and Leana HOCHART overcame Matej HASPEL and Koharu ITAGAKI of Germany (6 8 -9 8). Nathan PILARD and Nina GUO ZHENG halted the fantastic run of Spanish pairings Dario SALCEDO and Renata SHYPSHA (-10 6 2 8).  

Michal GAWLAS of Poland achieved an impressive victory in the Round of 64 defeating the fourth-seeded player Tom CLOSSET of Belgium. Despite being the 41st seed GAWLAS fought hard in a closely contested match that went to six games (-10 10 -10 9 9 13). GAWLAS acknowledged the challenge posed by his highly ranked opponent saying “This was the toughest match for me at the Championships so far. He was the highest-ranked adversary I have faced in Gliwice. He played every ball on the table and the rallies were longer with varied placement sometimes making it difficult for me to respond. His service was also very uncomfortable. Nevertheless the key to my victory was my fighting spirit and determination.” Initially feeling stressed GAWLAS found a turning point in the match. “At the beginning I was really tense and couldn’t play my best table tennis. When I was down 1-2 in games and 3-8 in the fourth game I told myself to stay positive and play for fun. That change in mindset had a positive effect and I’m really happy with this match ” he added. In other notable matches Rafael KONG of Portugal made an impressive comeback from being 0-3 down against the 11th seed David SZANTOSI of Hungary (-6 -6 -5 11 4 12 2). “It was really difficult for me in the opening three games. I knew I had to make some changes to turn the match around. In the fourth game I solely focused on the task of putting the next ball on the table. Winning that game made SZANTOSI uneasy and I was able to regain my confidence. As a result he started making mistakes under pressure. In the first three games I played the same game repeatedly but as the match progressed I introduced a lot of variations into my game ” explained KONG. Similarly Gabrielius CAMARA of the Netherlands seeded 67th exceeded expectations by defeating the 17th seed Matthias DANZER of Germany (-9 9 9 -7 7 6). Meanwhile the top seed Eduard IONESCU of Romania faced a tough challenge from Molo DE BOER of the Netherlands going 1-2 down before eventually recovering to secure his spot in the Round of 32.

In the Under 19 Girls Singles Event at the ORLEN European Youth Championships in Gliwice the no. 6 seed Agathe AVEZOU of France faced a tough challenge in the Round 64 against Patricia SANTOS of Portugal. She lost in five games (9 7 -5 9 9). SANTOS made it difficult for AVEZOU known for her defensive style of play. Reflecting on her victory SANTOS mentioned “It was very difficult for me to play against a player with a defensive style. I had to be patient and stay calm throughout the match. This notable win is the first significant success I have achieved in international competitions.” The struggles for French players continued as the no. 13 seed Clea DE STOPPELEIRE also suffered a defeat at the hands of Ukraine’s Olga PONKO (11 -8 8 -9 9 10). Similarly the no. 16 seed Dominika WILTSCHKOVA of Slovakia departed earlier than her seeding predicted as Ainhoa CRISTOBAL of Spain emerged victorious after a match that lasted more than an hour (6 -6 5 10 -6 -9 10). On the other hand the no. one seed Elena ZAHARIA of Romania managed to prevail against Eugenia SASTRE of Spain in a five-game battle (-14 8 7 6 5). The no. 2 seed Anna HURSEY of Wales beat Nomin BAASAN of Sweden comfortably in straight games (9 6 6 8).

The most valuabe players (MVP) of the team event of the ORLEN European Youth Championships are:   Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia in Under 19 Girls  Gabrielius CAMARA of the Netherlands in Under 19 Boys Koharu ITAGAKI of Germany in Under 15 Girls Tiago ABIODUN in Under 15 Boys.   The MVP is the player who scored the highest number of victory points in the team events according to the Experimental European Ranking System. Tiago ABIODUN scored the most victory points which makes him the overall most valuable player of the team event.   U19 GIRLS TEAMS U19 BOYS TEAMS ARAPOVIC Hana CRO 394 CAMARA Gabrielius NED 485 ZAHARIA Elena ROU 380 SZANTOSI David HUN 440 LACHENMAYER Lea GER 294 REDZIMSKI Milosz POL 400 HURSEY Anna WAL 268 MOVILEANU Darius ROU 295 MEI ROSU Bianca ROU 265 IONESCU Eduard ROU 290 MATIUNINA Veronika UKR 247 BELIK Simon CZE 275 MATOS Ines POR 235 SCHWEIGER Tom GER 270 SOMMEROVA Helena CZE 231 SHUSHAN Eitay ISR 231 SINGEORZAN Ioana ROU 220 LEI Balazs HUN 225 GRIESEL Mia GER 211 KVETON Ondrej CZE 220 WIELGOS Zuzanna POL 186 LAFFINEUR Louis BEL 210 PRANJKOVIC Naomi GER 174 CHIRITA Iulian ROU 201 DE STOPPELEIRE Clea FRA 160 BERTELSMEIER Andre GER 196 MASSART Lilou BEL 151 BRHEL Stepan CZE 188 WILTSCHKOVA Dominika SVK 151 BERZOSA Daniel ESP 181 MERENCO Camelia MDA 133 VALLINO Federico ITA 181 JUCHNAITE Lukrecija LTU 116 DURSUN Ugurcan TUR 180 STERNER Anastasia AUT 116 ZALEWSKI Mateusz POL 175 MORETTI Irene ITA 115 VAN OOST Kas NED 170 ILLASOVA Adriana SVK 110 ALFREDSSON Isak SWE 170   U15 GIRLS TEAMS U15 BOYS TEAMS ITAGAKI Koharu GER 527 ABIODUN Tiago POR 760 BERZOSA Maria ESP 500 ZYWORONEK Patryk POL 395 SIREAC Ecaterina MDA 465 SOLODKYI Nazarii UKR 390 JIFCU Andreea ROU 360 RZIHAUSCHEK Julian AUT 352 BAIASU Andreea ROU 290 VARGA Botond Zoltan HUN 335 MOLNAROVA Emma HUN 281 FLORO Damian SVK 290 HOCHART Leana FRA 256 FASO Danilo ITA 281 KODETOVA Hanka CZE 230 KHIDASHELI Luca ESP 280 LEAL Julia POR 221 PATTISON Ralph ENG 275 NURMATOVA Marziyya AZE 220 KRIVOKAPIC Jaksa MNE 244 GUO ZHENG Nina FRA 201 KAHRAMAN Kenan TUR 217 BLED Gaetane FRA 175 SAKOWICZ Mateusz POL 200 SKERBINZ Nina AUT 171 HODINA Petr AUT 195 NEUMANN Josephina GER 170 CAVAILLE Sandro FRA 195 BENJEGARD Siri SWE 160 PODAR Robert ROU 190 DE KLERK Jitte NED 146 PILARD Nathan FRA 190 POLAKOVA Veronika CZE 140 WALLIN Adam SWE 185 ASGAROVA Aylin AZE 136 KOSMAS Georgios GRE

In the Second round of the Under 15 Girls Singles event we witnessed an early exit of the top-seeded player. Gaetane BLED of France was defeated by Polina PASHCHENKO of Ukraine in a closely contested match (13 10 8 -5 -4 7). PASHCHENKO initially listed at position no. 87 in the seedings showed her defensive style of play that BLED struggled to counter. Reflecting on her victory PASHCHENKO said “I was patient and avoided making easy mistakes. This is my first European Championships and also my first tournament outside Ukraine. I am incredibly happy to achieve this result.” The round was filled with upsets as Mayra KONTOPOULOU of Greece also seeded at position no. 87 managed to overcome Lorena MORSCH of Germany who was seeded at position no. 13. Expressing her delight KONTOPOULOU shared “This is my first time at the European Championships. Until now I had only won a bronze medal in Mixed Doubles and reached the quarterfinals in singles at the Balkan Championships. Against MORSCH I followed the advice from my coach and played the first spin on her backhand which helped me secure the win.” Renata SHYPSHA of Spain ranked at position 70 managed to defeat the 17th seed Austria’s Celine Anubis PANHOLZER in a thrilling match (3 11 11 -8 -10 -4 7). SHYPSHA had a 0-3 deficit but she persevered through PANHOLZER’s spirited comeback. She commented “In the first three games PANHOLZER couldn’t read my service game. Eventually she managed to figure it out and leveled the match. However I maintained my focus and played point by point not being afraid at the end.” In other matches the second seed Josephina NEUMANN of Germany emerged victorious against Smilte MORKUNAITE of Lithuania (5 7 8 7). The third seed Nina GUO ZHENG of France overcame Busra DEMIR of Türkiye (8 8 6 -7 8) and the fourth seed Koharu ITAGAKI of Germany defeated Irina GIMENO FONT of Spain (7 5 8 7). The top-seeded player in Under 15 Boys event Julian RZIHAUSCHEK of Austria was 1-3 in reverse against Bulgaria’s Miroslav SCHMIDT before he managed to recover to win the match.  

In the Under 19 Girls’ Doubles Event the top seeds Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania had no problem advancing to the Round of 16 at the ORLEN European Youth Championships in Gliwice this morning. ARAPOVIC and ZAHARIA won in straight games against Fanny DOUTAZ and Nina TULLII of Switzerland (8 7 6). On the other hand the Romanian/Croatian combination at the lower half of the draw Nicole ARLIA of Italy and Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania faced a tough challenge against Sweden’s Nomin BAASAN and Leah TVEIT MUSKANTOR (5 -12 4 -12 5) before securing their place in the Round of 16. Slovakia’s Eliska STULLEROVA and Ema CINCUROVA suffered defeat at the hands of Lithuania’s Laura ABARAVICIUTE and Marija MIKALAUSKYTE in another five-game clash (7 -11 8 -6 1). In the Under 19 Boys’ event the top seeds also remained unbeaten. Darius MOVILEANU and Eduard IONESCU of Romania overcame Hungary’s Adam CSERI and CHEN YU Wei (2 7 5) while Thibault PORET and Hugo DESCHAMPS of France defeated Croatia’s Borna PETEK and Luka ZLATKOV (4 5 5). Marcel BLASZCZYK and Alan KULCZYCKI created the biggest upset of the Round 32 by overcoming the no. 4 seeds. Seeded at position no. 26 the Polish pairings defeated Simon BELIK of Czechia and David SZANTOSI of Hungary (-9 9 3 10). “I think we played really well today. We demonstrated that the seedings don’t necessarily dictate the outcome. We managed to defeat highly skilled players at the European level which I am extremely satisfied with. Our main advantages were our service and receive. Overall we played a strong and bold game ” said Alan KULCZYCKI. “It was a fantastic performance. Alan and I had great cooperation during this game. From our perspective we focused on adding more spin to our plays rather than relying solely on power. This strategy proved to be a challenge for our opponents and worked in our favor ” said Marcel BLASZCZYK. In the Round of 32 of the Under 15 Boys’ Event the top seeds advanced safely. In Gliwice Julian RZIHAUSCHEK of Austria and Tiago ABIODUN of Portugal received a walkover while the second seeds Petr HODINA of Austria and Damian FLORO of Slovakia prevailed against the Netherlands’ pairing Ivan KAHN and Brent RONDE. However the Dutch pairing did not go down without a fight – they lost in five close games (-8 7 6 -10 8). Other matches went according to expectations except for the duel between Lithuania’s Martin FRIZEL and Arnas SAPARIS who overcame Dorde CELIC and Niksa VESOVIC of Bosnia and Herzegovina (8 8 9). In the same stage of the Under 15 Girls’ Doubles event it was a tough scenario for some favorites although the top seeds prevailed easily. Koharu ITAGAKi and Jesephina NEUMANN of Germany overcame Beatriz PINTO of Portugal and Alexandra DICU of Romania (7 5 -7 0) while in the bottom half of the draw Nina GUO ZHENG and Leana HOCHART of France beat Naomi COKER of England and Darcey TAYLOR of Wales (2 4 5). Germany’s top pairings will now meet Belgium’s Lilly LAFFINER and Alicia WARRAND. The 20th seeds caused an upset by defeating the 11th seeds Emma MOLNAROVA of Slovakia and Anna HOLEJSOVSKA of Czechia (-9 5 -6 6 11). Turkey’s Busra DEMIR and Aybike SIMSEK seeded at position no. 23 overcame Croatia’s Nikolina MILICEVIC and Victoria PUSTAJ seeded at position no. 14 (7 4 9).

The Under 19 Boys’ singles event at the ORLEN European Youth Championships commenced with an upset. Milo DE BOER of the Netherlands who was not listed in the seedings due to having no points prevailed against the highest non-seeded player ranked at position no. 33 Balazs LEI of Hungary. The match lasted a full seven games and LEI had a 3-1 advantage before DE BOER recovered to win (4 -5 -6 -7 8 8 9). Norway’s Martin FROSETH ranked at position no. 84 prevailed against Stephen BRHEL of Czechia who is the no. 32 seed (-8 -12 5 8 6 5). Markkos PUKK of Estonia also exceeded his ranking and overcame Itay AVIVI of Israel (8 4 3 -9 7). Greek Dionysios TIMAMOPOULOS ranked no. 130 overcame the no. 24 seed Giacomo ALLEGRANZA of Italy (6 7 9 -9 9) to follow suit. In the Under 19 Girls Singles Event in the Round of 128 the top seeds were free but a few matches stood out. In the duel between Olha PONKO of Ukraine and Ema LOVRIC of Bosnia and Herzegovina the Expedite Rule was enforced at 3-1 and 7-10 in the fifth game. After that PONKO won three straight points (6 10 2 -5 10). Also Kira BALOGH of Hungary was stretched to the full distance against Ella KELLOW of Finland before she prevailed (7 -11 5 -6 10 -7 13). Nomin BAASAN of Sweden halted Nicoletta CRISCION’s spirited comeback. Italy’s player recovered after being 0-3 down to level but she eventually lost in a close finish of the decisive game (8 6 7 -7 -9 -9 11). In addition a few matches went the full distance. Molei FANG of Austria was stretched to the full seven games against Karolina HONDA of Poland (-6 9 7 -7 -4 5 6). Iolanta YEFTODII of Ukraine beat Dorina HUDAK of Hungary (-7 8 9 -7 -10 8 8). In the Under 15 Boys Singles favorites were safe in the Round of 128. In the Under 15 Girls Singles event only one match went the full distance. Maja VANJO of Serbia stretched Anita PETKOVA to the full seven games before Bulgaria’s representative prevailed (-5 7 -3 -4 8 9 8). Mayra KONTOPOULOU of Greece needed one game less to overcome Ana SLADOJE of Bosnia and Herzegovina (7 16 7 -9 -10 3). Gabriela AALTONEN of Sweden overcame Latvia’s Eliza KUCINSKA (-8 8 10 4 6) while Beatriz NTO of Portugal prevailed against Deimantė ADLYTĖ of Lithuania by the same margin (-9 6 8 4 7). Azerbaijan’s Aylin ASGAROVA beat Slovenia’s Vita KOCJHANCIC in straight games (9 5 9 6). Isabel CONCHILLO and Renata SHYPSHA of Spain and Jana HAVELA of Serbia also moved to the Round of 64.