The mixed team competitions at the 2026 JOOLA Europe Youth Series Riga Open have reached their decisive stage, with the finalists confirmed in the Under 15 event and the Under 13 semi-final line-up set after two days of action in the Latvian capital.
In the U15 Mixed Team event, Latvia/Lithuania 1 completed a perfect round-robin campaign to finish first and book their place in the final against Spain/Finland – the same opponents they defeated in the last round of the group stage.
The top-seeded combination of Anastasija ZIBUNOVA, Emilia PSCOLOVSKA, Kirils DEMSOVS and Motiejus ADAMONIS won all five encounters and finished with 127 points.
Latvia/Lithuania 1 established their position immediately on the opening day, beating Latvia/Lithuania 2 27-1, Latvia 27-4 and the Netherlands 27-4. They continued with a 25-12 victory over Latvia/Poland on Thursday before facing second seeds Spain/Finland in the final round.
The first meeting between the two finalists produced plenty of drama before Latvia/Lithuania 1 prevailed 21-16.
Spain/Finland made the stronger start as Teresa CARRASCO VIEITO and Irei GOMEZ beat ZIBUNOVA and DEMSOVS in five games in the opening mixed doubles. However, PSCOLOVSKA responded with a 3-1 victory over Celia VALPUESTA, before ADAMONIS overcame Joel KOIVUMAKI by the same margin.
CARRASCO VIEITO kept Spain/Finland firmly in contention with a straight-games victory over ZIBUNOVA and later came from two games down to edge PSCOLOVSKA 3-2. VALPUESTA also prevailed in five games against ZIBUNOVA.
Latvia/Lithuania 1, however, found the answers through their boys. DEMSOVS beat GOMEZ 3–1, ADAMONIS recorded a straight-games win over GOMEZ and DEMSOVS closed his singles programme with a 3-1 victory over KOIVUMAKI. Those results helped the top seeds secure the 21-16 overall victory and complete the group stage unbeaten.
Spain/Finland, represented by CARRASCO VIEITO, VALPUESTA, GOMEZ and KOIVUMAKI, nevertheless comfortably secured second position with four victories and 103 points. Their only defeat came against Latvia/Lithuania 1.
The Latvia finished third, followed by Netherlands in fourth, Latvia/Poland in fifth and Latvia/Lithuania 2 in sixth place.
Now Latvia/Lithuania 1 and Spain/Finland will meet for a second time – this time with the U15 Mixed Team title at stake.
In the U13 Mixed Team event, the group stage produced four semi-finalists, with Spain, Sweden 1, Sweden 2 and Lithuania 1 remaining in contention for the title.
Spain produced an outstanding performance in the group stage, finishing first with five wins from five matches and 123 points. The top seeds went through the entire stage unbeaten, recording victories of 27-4, 27-2, 18-12, 24-10, 27-3.
Sweden 1 also secured its place in the medal stage after finishing second in the group with four victories and one defeat, while Sweden 2 and Lithuania 1 emerged from the other group to complete the semi-final line-up.
The first semi-final will see Spain face Sweden 2, while Sweden 1 will meet Lithuania 1 in the other contest. Both matches are scheduled for Thursday at 17:45, with Spain and Sweden 2 playing on Tables 3 and 4 and Sweden 1 and Lithuania 1 on Tables 1 and 2.
The winners will advance to the U13 Mixed Team final on Friday at 18:30.
