The first titles have been decided at the 2026 JOOLA Europe Youth Series Riga Open, with Latvia/Lithuania 1 completing a perfect run to claim the U15 Mixed Team crown and Spain emerging victorious after a thrilling U13 final. Latvia/Lithuania 1 defeated Spain/Finland 15–5, while Spain had to dig deep to overcome Sweden 1 17–15 in a closely fought battle for U13 gold.
See pictures here.
In the U15 Mixed Team final, Latvia/Lithuania 1 completed an unbeaten campaign with an impressive 15–5 victory over Spain/Finland.
The combination of Anastasija ZIBUNOVA, Emilia PSCOLOVSKA, Kirils DEMSOVS and Motiejus ADAMONIS had already beaten Spain/Finland 21-16 in the final round of the group stage. When the two sides met again with the title at stake, Latvia/Lithuania 1 produced an even more convincing performance.
They took control from the opening mixed doubles, with PSCOLOVSKA and ADAMONIS overcoming Teresa CARRASCO VIEITO and Irei GOMEZ in straight games, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6.
PSCOLOVSKA maintained the momentum against Celia VALPUESTA, recording another 3–0 victory (11-9, 11-9, 11-7).
ADAMONIS then added another important success against Joel KOIVUMAKI. After a dominant opening game, the Lithuanian was tested in the following three, but prevailed 3-1 (11-1, 9-11, 14-12, 12-10).
ZIBUNOVA further extended the advantage with an impressive straight-games victory over CARRASCO VIEITO, winning 11-8, 11-9, 11-8.
Spain/Finland responded through GOMEZ, who overcame DEMSOVS 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 6-11, 11-3), but Latvia/Lithuania 1 had already established a decisive advantage. With the overall points system determining the outcome, the remaining matches did not need to be completed in full as the champions reached the required mark for a 15-5 victory.
Spain claimed the U13 Mixed Team title at the after overcoming Sweden 1 17-15 in a thrilling final.
Spain reached the title match after beating Sweden 2 19-13 in the semi-finals, while Sweden 1 had to work even harder for their place in the final, edging Lithuania 1 17-16.
The final lived up to expectations, with the two teams trading blows throughout before Spain eventually prevailed by the narrowest of margins.
Sweden 1 made the better start as Nikki HON and Filip AROSELL edged Carmen GOMEZ and Luca ROMERO in a five-game doubles battle. The Spanish pair twice came from behind, but HON and AROSELL dominated the deciding game 11-5 to win 3-2.
Spain responded immediately through Julia FERNANDEZ, who beat Freja LJUNGBERG in straight games, 11-4, 11-9, 11-4.
Sigge Sang LEIGERT then produced a fine comeback for Sweden against ROMERO. The Spaniard took the opening two games, but LEIGERT turned the match around to win the next three and secure a 3-2 victory (7-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-8).
GOMEZ brought Spain back with a convincing 3-0 success against HON, but Sweden responded once again through AROSELL, who defeated Daniel CASQUERO in straight games.
The Spanish girls proved decisive as the contest developed. GOMEZ recorded her second singles victory with a 3-0 win over LJUNGBERG (11-3, 11-5, 12-10), while FERNANDEZ was equally impressive against HON, conceding only 11 points in a straight-games victory, 11-3, 11-6, 11-2.
Sweden continued to apply pressure through their boys. LEIGERT beat CASQUERO 3-1, while AROSELL produced another commanding performance to overcome ROMERO 3-0 (11-9, 15-13, 11-2).
However, Spain had collected enough points across the contest to reach the winning mark first and seal a dramatic 17-15 victory.
The triumph completed an excellent U13 Mixed Team campaign for Spain, who had entered the competition as the No. 1 seeds with FERNANDEZ, GOMEZ, CASQUERO and ROMERO.
After overcoming Sweden 2 in the semi-final, Spain held their nerve in an even tighter title contest to leave Riga with the U13 Mixed Team crown.
