Top seeds in the mixed doubles event at the European Under 13 Championships in Zagreb Lukas WANG and Josephina NEUMANN of Germany reached the quarterfinal stage to be played on the last day. Germany’s pair prevailed against Vidar LARSSON and Laurynne CABARDO of Sweden in the round of 16. In the next stage they will meet Noah TESSIER and Lisa ZHAO. The French duo overcame Israel’s Nir ENGLER and Gali BEZALEL. On their way to the round of 16 ENGLER and BEZALEL overcame Hungary’s Peter ZUBOR and Szonja SZOGI who created an upset by beating the number 5 seeds Francesco TREVISAN and Federica INTERLANDI of Italy. Poland’s Jan MRUGALA and Julia CZAJA are safely through to the quarters where they will meet Alexandru IONEL and Patricia STOICA of Romania. Titouan MOREL-GONZALES and Eva LAM of France proved too strong for Kacper Piwowar of England and Lana Benko of Croatia. The French pairings will meet Jakub DOBOSZ and Aleksandra MAKAR of Poland. Turkiye’s Gorkem OCAL and Nil BASARAN justified their status to reach the quarters. For the medal they will clash with Lenard SZABO and Lizett FAZEKAS of Hungary.

Italy emerged triumphant against Spain in another series of straight matches. Danilo FASO and Matilde BUZZONI opened the encounter with a victory over Ladimir MAYOROV and Renata SHYPHA. “Our mixed doubles team had performed well in two matches prior to the team event so they were well warmed up ” said Italian coach Gianluca ABBATICCHIO. Italy boasts two leading players in the seeding list Danilo FASO and Francesco TREVISAN but Gioia PICU has proven that the team can rely on her. “Gioia’s victory over Jiaqi GUO was a surprise but in this tournament she has already shown that she can compete against any opponent. It was not a major surprise considering how well she played in previous days in Zagreb. After her win most of the work was done as we were confident in TREVISAN’S abilities. TREVISAN and FASO are very strong in this category ” explained Coach ABBATICCHIO. Speaking about the forthcoming match against Turkey the coach promised “It is going to be a battle.” Spain -Italy 0-3 Ladimir MAYOROV Renata SHYPSHA – Danilo FASO Matilde BUZZONI 0-3 (6-11 10-12 7-11) Jiaqi GUO – Gioia PICU 2-3 (11-6 9-11 11-8 7-11 3-11) Roc GILBERT – Francesco TREVISAN 1-3 (2-11 7-11 11-9 5-11) Germany – Turkiye 0-3 Samuel KUHL Anna WALTER – Gorkem OCAL Buse KOCAK 1-3 (8-11 7-11 11-8 4-11) Amelie JIA – Nil BASAN 1-3 (7-11 11-8 8-11 9-11) Lukas WANG – Kenan KAHRAMAN 0-3 (8-11 11-13 5-11) Italy and Türkiye’s Mixed Teams have secured their places in the final of the Under 13 European Championships in Zagreb. They emerged victorious in superb style during the semi-finals. Turkish team unlike Italy the top seed exceeded expectations to reach the ultimate stage. Seeded at position number 13 Turkey will compete for the gold medal tomorrow at 7 PM CET. In the penultimate stage they showed no mercy in the match against Germany. “We are very happy to have reached the final. It is very important for us. This achievement is significant for our players as it would be their first medal at the Europeans. We have worked very hard for this and remained highly focused ” said coach Gökmen OCAL. Throughout the match Türkiye dominated their opponents. Gorkem OCAL and Buse KOCAK set the pace of the duel with their victory over Samuel KUHL and Anna WALTER which proved challenging for their adversaries. Nil BASARAN and Kenan KAHRAMAN won their individual matches against Amelie JIA and Lukas WANG. “Tactically we outplayed them but I believe that more than tactics and strategy it was our desire to win that prevailed ” added coach OCAL.

The qualification stage of the Boys’ and Girls’ Singles events at the Under 13 European Championships concluded with very few upsets. Most of the favorites safely reached the knockout phase of the competition in Zagreb. In the Boys’ event the number one seed Danilo FASO of Italy prevailed against Melker JAHANSSON of Sweden and CHEN Seung Jin of Austria without losing a game. The Swedish player also secured his place in the next round. Another Italian Francesco TREVISAN cruised through the group matches beating all adversaries in straight games. However in Group 2 Lowis VOGLER of Switzerland defied the odds and moved forward with victories over Peter ZUMBOR of Hungary and Alozis LIMANIS of Latvia. The leaders of Groups 3 4 5 and 6 Lukas WANG of Germany Gorkem OCAL of Türkiye Kacper PIWOWAR of England and Jan MRUGALA of Poland also safely progressed with a clear record. In Group 7 Mateusz WISNIEWSKI of Poland emerged as the top player with a 3-2 victory over the 7th seed Matt CLOSSET of Belgium. The 27th seed Ladimir MAYOROV of Spain defeated the 14th seed Alexandru POP of Romania and finished the first stage as the leader in the group. In the Girls’ event Josephina NEUMANN of Germany was forced to go the distance in a match against Renata SHYPHA of Spain but eventually emerged victorious. Both girls moved to the knockout stage. Hanka KODETOVA of Czechia and Lizett FAZEKAS of Hungary joined them as expected. However Serbia’s Teodora SUDZUM upset the rankings and also secured her place in the main draw after a victory over Austria’s Sophia PICHLER. Deimante ADLYTE of Lithuania also caused an upset by defeating the 4th seed Lisa ZHAO of Spain. She also overcame Turkey’s Buse KOCAK and Iceland’s Guobjorg GUNNARSDOTTIR. The 5th seed Siri BENJAGARD of Sweden failed to pass the qualification stage. Adela BRHELOVA of Czechia and Martina HRABAJOVA of Slovakia qualified for the main draw. Among the players who caused upsets are Nadja DJULOVIC of Bosnia and Herzegovina Khadija EYLAZOVA of Azerbaijan Klara KONCAR of Croatia Valeria CRAVCENCO of Moldova Gioia PICU and Federica INTERLANDI of Italy and Aleksandra MAKAR of Poland.

Tonight at 7 PM CET the semi-finals of the Under 13 European Championships in Zagreb will take place. Italy will face Spain while Germany will play against Türkiye. The match for the title will be played at the same time tomorrow. Spain reached the penultimate stage undefeated after six matches and two stages of the group phase. Ladimir MAYOROV Roger QUESADA Renata SHYPHA Jiaqi GUO and Roc GILBERT overcame Germany (3-2) Bosnia and Herzegovina (5-0) and Moldova (5-0) in the opening stage. Without much trouble they also defeated Switzerland (5-0) but faced a tough challenge against Israel (3-2). However the real drama unfolded in the last match when Spain played against Hungary for a place in the semi-finals.Three out of five matches went the full distance including the final duel between MAYOROV and Lenard SZABO. The Hungarian player eventually won and despite Spain already securing 3 points and the overall victory Szabo and Mayorov fought fiercely until the last point. The top-seeded Italy led by Danilo FASO and Francesco TREVISAN who have not lost a single individual match in both group phases faced some pressure in matches against Portugal (3-2) and Switzerland (3-2) but easily triumphed against Kosovo (5-0). In the second stage Italy defeated Sweden (3-2) and Ukraine (3-2). Young Gioia PICU showed that she could also handle the pressure and recorded four out of four victories in both group stages. The outcome of the standings in Group 2 remained unknown until the end. Despite suffering two defeats in two stages Germany advanced to the semi-finals. Jonathan GAISER Amelie JIA Lukas WANG Samuel KUHL and Anna WALTER lost to Spain (2-3) in the opening stage but bounced back by defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina (5-0) and Moldova (5-0). In the next stage they overcame Romania (4-1) but lost to Czechia (2-3). Overall Czechia and Romania each lost only one match in the two stages highlighting the importance of each individual match in this system. Türkiye’s Gorkem OCAL Buse KOCAK Nil BASARAN and Kenan KAHRAMAN beat Croatia (4-1) and Lithuania (4-1) but they suffered a loss to Hungary (2-3) in the opening stage. They faced challenges in both instances but emerged victorious against Poland and France (3-2) and easily defeated Bulgaria (5-0).

After five matches in the Mixed Teams Event at the Under 13 European Championships in Zagreb Italy has maintained their unbeaten record. However justifying their leading position in the standings has proven to be a tough challenge. Yesterday Italy emerged victorious against Portugal (3-2) Switzerland (3-2) and Kosovo (5-0). Today they demonstrated their strength by defeating Ukraine. They are yet to face Sweden. Italy holds the number one seed in the mixed teams event with Danilo FASO and Francesco TREVISAN ranked first and second in the singles standings. FASO and Matilde BUZZONI are the second seeds in Mixed Doubles. “I am satisfied with our current position. We faced some tough moments but despite the difficulties we managed to win all the matches. Against Ukraine today Francesco TREVISAN and Federica INTERLANDI lost their match against Volodymyr NEVIZHYN and Diana KOLIENIKOVA despite being favorites. On the other hand Gioa Maria PICU had a successful match against Tatiana PUKALO which gave us a great boost of confidence. FASO and Trevisan lived up to their expectations ” said coach Emmanuele DELSANTO. The coach also highlighted the improvement in PICU’s game. “Previously Gioa struggled during crucial moments when the score was at 10-8 or 8-10. She lacked self-confidence. Now she has managed to turn those close games in her favor ” added DELSANTO. Coach Delsanto expressed his disagreement with the scoring system where a 5-0 win gives 5 points to the winner a 4-1 win gives 4 points to the winner and 1 point to the defeated team and a 3-2 win gives 3 points to the winner and 2 points to the defeated team. “I believe this scoring system is flawed because in certain situations narrow victories may not be sufficient.” In the same group Ukraine defeated Sweden (3-2).   See the pictures here  

Hungary has had an impressive run with five victories over the course of two days in the Mixed Team’s event at the Under 13 European Championships. Tonight they will face Spain in a direct clash for a spot in the semifinals which will be played tomorrow. In the opening stage Hungary defeated Lithuania (5-0) Turkey (3-2) and Croatia (4-1). In Stage Two they emerged victorious against Switzerland (5-0) and Israel (3-2). “We have a fairly young team. Lizett FAZEKAS is only 10 years old while Benjamin VAMOSI is 12. The combination of our number one player Lenard SZABO and Lizett has proven to be very successful despite the fact that they had never played together before this tournament ” explained coach Peter Fazekas. Their 3-2 victory over the favorites Turkey yesterday disrupted the standings. “It was a very close match and we managed to defeat both of their top players. Lenard beat their best player Kenan KAHRAMAN while Lizett prevailed against Nil BASARAN. This win propelled us to the top spot in our group ” added Fazekas. Fazekas has no doubt that the match against Spain which will decide the semifinalist will be closely contested. Spain defeated Germany (3-2) Bosnia and Herzegovina (5-0) and Moldova (5-0) on the first day and continued their winning streak with victories over Israel (3-2) and Switzerland (5-0).      

After a shaky start at the Under 13 European Championships in Zagreb Germany began day two with full determination. The team consisting of Jonathan GAISER Amelie JIA Anna WALTER and Lukas WANG defeated Romania 4-1 in the opening round of the day. Romania’s team had a stronger start as Alexandru Lazar IONEL and Patricia STOICA won their opening match against Jonathan GAISER and Amelie JIA. “They played very well. In the second game they targeted Amelie with their serves causing significant trouble for our team. However Anna played her best match of the tournament so far followed by a very convincing performance from WANG who was at the top of his game. Amelie lost the opening game against STOICA but then found her rhythm and won the next two games. After the fourth game she decided to change her service which turned out to be a good decision. We experienced a little déjà vu from the match against Spain in the duel between GAISER and IONEL. Jonathan had a convincing 2-0 advantage before IONEL managed to level the score. Jonathan was playing too far from the table but in the decisive game he adjusted and turned the match around to win ” explained coach SABO. On the opening day of play in Zagreb Romania the number 8 seeds upset the order in Group F and emerged as the leaders after defeating the number 6 seeds Ukraine (5-0) Greece (4-1) and Estonia (5-0). They advanced to the next stage to face Czechia and Germany. Germany failed to live up to their leading position on day one losing to Spain (3-2) but managed to bounce back with victories over Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova both with a score of 5-0. “Before the match we knew that our chances were 50-50 and we anticipated a long match. Samuel KUHL and Anna WALTER couldn’t capitalize on all the chances they created against Ladimir MAYOROV and Renata SHYPSHA. In addition Amelie JIA struggled against Jiaqi GUO. She won the opening game but after that GUO deciphered her service game and with better reception GUO emerged victorious. Lukas managed to bring us back with a secure victory over Roc GILBERT while Anna added another point to the scoreline with a victory over SHYPSHA. However in the decisive match MAYOROV pushed Spain to victory in a close five-game duel against KUHL ending with a score of 14-12 in his favor ” explained coach Katharina SABO. Coach SABO emphasized that the mixed team event provides valuable experience for the young players. “Last year we had the Challenge but participating in the European Championships takes it to a whole new level” In the opening round of Stage Two Ukraine defeated Sweden (3-2) Turkey prevailed against Poland (3-2) France beat Bulgaria (5-0) Spain defeated Israel (3-2) and Hungary overcame Switzerland (4-1).  

The Under 13 European Championships in Zagreb commenced today with favorable outcomes for the favorites in the opening round. Topping Group A Italy represented by Francesco TREVISAN Danilo FASO Federica INTERLANDI and Matilde BUZZONI overcame Switzerland by a score of 3-2 and achieved the same margin of victory against Portugal. In Group B Czechia prevailed over Bulgaria with a score of 4-1 and narrowly defeated Belgium 3-2. Poland defeated Azerbaijan convincingly with a score of 5-0 and secured a close victory against Sweden with a score of 3-2. France began their journey at the Under 13 European Championships in victorious fashion. In the opening match of Stage One in Mixed Teams Titouan MOREL-GONZALES Noah TESSIER Alexia NODIN and Eva LAM overcame Austria represented by Louis FEGERL Bela CSOMOR Sophia PICHLER and Mariia LYTVYN with a convincing 5-0 scoreline. Despite the absence of the world’s second-ranked player Nina GUO ZENG France still possesses a very strong team. Titouan MOREL-GONZALES reached the finals of the Metz 2023 WTT Youth Contender Noah TESSIER achieved the semifinals in Spa and the quarterfinals in Liguanu at the WTT Youth Contender this year while Alexia NODIN reached the semifinals in Spa and Eva LAM made it to the finals in Platja d’Aro and the quarterfinals in Spa. Coach Stephane HUCLIEZ who previously served as a head coach for seniors juniors and cadets is now leading the youngsters at the Under 13 Championships. “We have a very talented team although Nina is absent. The Federation decided she should participate in the European Youth Championships and compete in the Under 15 event. For the other players this is a new and valuable experience to play in mixed teams ” said HUCLIEZ. The opening match against Austria was more closely contested than the result suggests. “Austria has a very strong team so we had a slow start with Eva and Titouan going the distance. Four games were decided by the narrowest of margins and the third game could have gone either way before finishing 16-14 in our favor. Also the match between Eva and Mariia was crucial for the team and it’s great that she managed to win it 3-2. It instills a lot of confidence in the other members of the team ” added HUCLIEZ.